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Two Years on the Alabama 



ARTHUR SINCLAIR 

LIEUTENANT, C.S.N. 



WITH OVER THIRTY ILLUSTRATIONS 



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BOSTON 
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 



IO MILK STREET 



I895 



Copyright, iSgs, by Lee and Shepard 



All Rights Reserved 



Two Years on the Alabama 



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TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



Captain Raphael Semmes's account of the service of 
the Alabama, as the public probably observed, was most 
carefully confined within the limits of legal and profes- 
sional statement. It was no part of his purpose to enter 
into the details of life on board, or to make any unne- 
cessary confidences respecting himself or the officers and 
crew who shared his labors and successes. It is hardly 
necessary, therefore, to offer any apology for the matter 
contained in this volume. It will not be doubted that a 
cruise so unique and remarkable had its share of daily and 
hourly interests, and of manifestations of that human na- 
ture which is of the first consequence in all narrative. 

It is certainly not a sense of peculiar fitness which de- 
termines the present writer to undertake to make a book 
from his recollections of the cruise. But those most inter- 
ested have decided that his duty lies in that direction,, and 
he would himself regret that the irresponsible romancer of 
the future should become sole heir to the Alabama's tra- 
ditions. Though in a minor sense, perhaps what he has 
in custody is history, and requires reverent treatment. 
Truth, at least, he thinks he can promise, for he has 
spared no pains to verify through the testimony of others 
what he has herein set down. 

i 



2 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Before and during the first year of the Alabama's career, 
several Confederate cruisers raided the North Atlantic. 
The Sumter had fully demonstrated the tremendous 
damage which armed cruisers might effect upon the 
enemy's commerce, if they could be put on the high seas 
and maintained there. But the Confederate cruisers 
Tallahassee, Georgia, Nashville, Chickamauga, Sallie, and 
Retribution were not at all adapted to such a service, and 
could add little substantial achievement. The Florida 
was unlucky from the first. She started from Nassau with 
the germs of yellow fever on board. The sickness and mor- 
tality among her crew was so great that she was quickly 
compelled to make port, and the blockading fleet at Mobile 
tore her literally to splinters. Months elapsed before she 
could be got to sea again, and then disaster after disaster 
beset her, until she was eventually captured at Bahia by 
the U. S. S. Wachusett. 

Later in the war, and after the sinking of the Alabama, 
the Shenandoah, fitted out, like the Florida and Alabama, in 
England, made havoc amongst the American whaling-fleets 
in the Pacific ; l the respective results of her operations and 
those of the Florida showing as great value in vessel prop- 
erty destroyed as was accomplished by the Alabama. But 
annihilation of American shipping interests was effected 
almost solely by the peculiar operations of the latter. It 
was not to good fortune alone that this distinction is due. 
The Alabama was fitted out with the most careful and 
astute prevision, commanded by a man of rare genius, and 
officered with special reference to the work in hand. It was 

1 When it was determined to purchase and fit out the Shenandoah, the writer 
being at the time in Paris, and domiciled with Capt. Waddell, her future com- 
mander, the latter confidentially disclosed the matter with the view of consultation 
in selecting some cruising-ground where a good result in captures might be obtained. 
The recent cruise of the Alabama suggested no mercantile industry undisturbed, 
save the whaling-fleets of the Pacific ; and after a most careful study of the charts 
before us, both came to the conclusion these were the points to strike, and with what 
marked results the reader is now fully apprised. 



INTR ODUC TOR Y 3 

to be, practically, one small, swift ship against the many 
which her enemy could send against her. Her itinerary 
was pre-arranged with exactness and carried out without 
any deviation. Mysterious and uncertain in her where- 
abouts to the foe, and for that reason a terror to his com- 
merce in all seas, her movements could not be left to shape 
themselves upon events of the moment. The work to be 
done was definite ; and the method must not leave Com- 
mander Semmes without suitable communications to in- 
form him of the movements of the pursuers, or to supply 
other emergencies. At the same time, the Alabama had 
unusual resources within herself, such as no other man-of- 
war of her day could boast. She carried the means for 
making all ordinary repairs upon her machinery, spars, and 
armament while at sea, or in ports where mechanical facili- 
ties could not be commanded. It was manifestly uncertain 
what influences might be excited by her powerful enemy 
in neutral ports against her. Of English sympathy alone 
she could be fairly assured ; but that must be counted on 
only within the strict limit of neutrality laws peculiarly 
disadvantageous to a ship without consorts or home ports 
of entry. 

The Alabama's actual destructiveness to the commerce 
of the enemy was therefore out of all proportion to her 
force, or the actual number of her captures, or their money- 
value. Fifty-seven vessels of all sorts were burned — 
the value as estimated by the Geneva award being but 
$6,750,000. A large number were, however, released on 
ransom-bond, having neutral cargo on board, and hundreds 
of neutrals were brought-to and examined. In the mean- 
time the Alabama sailed seventy-five thousand miles, or 
thrice the distance round the globe. Beginning her work 
in the North Atlantic, she shifted rapidly from place to 
place as the terror of her presence did its work, — the 
West Indies, the Gulf of Mexico, back again to the West 



4 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Indies, Brazil, Cape of Good Hope, China Seas, Strait 
of Malacca, Ceylon, Arabian Gulf, Strait of Madagascar, 
Cape Town, St. Helena, Brazil, the English Channel — 
this was her itinerary. For two years she preyed upon 
her enemy, and set pursuers at defiance, accomplishing to 
the letter the mission upon which she was sent. 

It is unnecessary as to those who have studied the 
sciences of war and statecraft to say anything respecting 
the moral quality of the Alabama's work. But from the 
fact that a fairly large and probably well-intentioned class 
amongst those who were suffering from her depredations 
got into the way of calling her a "pirate," — a circum- 
stance entirely without the least shadow of legal justifica- 
tion, and which must therefore have been founded upon 
a misconception, not only of the necessities of war, but 
also of the spirit which animated her officers and crew, — 
it may soften prejudices a little to call attention to a few 
facts. 

The North was at the time pretty effectually blockad- 
ing Southern ports, and cutting off the Confederacy from 
all commercial advantages and resources, which were far 
more vital, not only to military power, but to domestic 
comfort, than a similar blockade of Northern ports would 
have been. Reprisals were justified to a far greater ex- 
tent than it was in the power of the South to inflict them. 
Retaliation upon non-combatants or private interests, es- 
pecially when unlikely to effect political results or even to 
materially weaken a foe, is unchivalric and immoral. But 
it is evident that the operations of the Alabama were well 
calculated to draw away from Southern ports the swiftest 
and most effective ships of the enemy in order to protect 
his commerce ; and thus, reducing the strength of the 
blockade, to procure relief both to the government and the 
people of the Confederacy. It could not be assumed that 
the North would certainly sacrifice its shipping interests. 



INTRODUCTORY 5 

The South had also a fairly strong party of sympathizers 
in the North itself, which it was advisable to encourage 
and stimulate by striking blows, whenever practicable, at 
its all but omnipotent "business interests." Other con- 
siderations of policy might be cited to the same purpose. 
But it is chiefly in point to assure the reader that while 
the Alabama's main purpose was to threaten the shipping 
interests of her foe, neither her projectors, nor the officers 
and men who manned her, could possibly have foreseen that 
she would keep on for an extended period making auda- 
cious raids upon merchant vessels, without being over- 
hauled and, if necessary, brought to bay, by some of the 
numerous armed ships of her enemy. She was a fighting- 
ship, and under no circumstances, within reasonable odds, 
contemplated avoiding battle. This is evident from what 
happened in the only two instances in which the opportu- 
nity was fairly presented, and should be admitted frankly. 

The strict and firm discipline, the isolation, watchful- 
ness, labor, and exposure which were concomitants of ser- 
vice on this lone cruiser demanded from her officers, at 
least, a strong sentiment of duty and patriotism, not in- 
ferior to any manifested afloat or afield on either side of 
the great war-question pending. And quite apart from 
the English mercantile and political policy, which to a 
certain extent favored the career of the Alabama, her offi- 
cers received from the English authorities and naval 
officers a degree and kind of recognition which it is practi- 
cally impossible for John Bull to extend to those he cannot 
approve as men of honor and principle. 

Perhaps one thing more should be noted. The writer 
has had it suggested that inasmuch as the Alabama de- 
stroyed American prestige on the seas, — a calamity to be 
deplored by all patriotism which now embraces a whole 
country, — her exploits are rather to be forgotten as errors 
and sorrows than to be held up to admiration. But the 



6 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

writer, believing that the counsels of men can shape noth- 
ing contrary to the purposes of that Providence which is 
clearly manifest to reverent and thoughtful minds in his- 
tory, and that acceptance of results ( even to the extent 
of pleading guilty of treason ) does not necessarily wipe 
out the moral value of heroism expended on the losing 
side, assumes that the Alabama, directed and controlled 
by American patriots, though of States' rights persuasion, 
is pretty sure to remain a feature of American maritime 
history, and a subject of legitimate interest to most Amer- 
icans, of generations present and to come. 

This explanation to the general reader will not be con- 
strued, it is hoped, into apology. Whatever may be fitting 
for others, it would be at least highly indecorous for a per- 
son in the present writer's position to make excuses for a 
course of action on his own part or that of his fellow-offi- 
cers, which was prompted at the time by the highest 
motives, and must therefore be remembered with many 
elements of satisfaction. At the same time, the statement 
may be added, that a reunited country has, in the writer's 
judgment, no citizens more jealous of her unity and of the 
honor of her flag among the nations of the earth to-day, 
than the veterans of "The Lost Cause." 

The necessity of possessing a navy appealed very early 
to the government of the Confederacy, as was natural 
enough in view of the distress caused by the blockade, and 
the enormous advantages which Southern harbors and 
water-ways afforded to the enemy. But the South had 
no shipyards or machine-shops capable of building such 
vessels as were manifestly necessary to contend with the 
Northern armament. Only steam-vessels could effectively 
overhaul the swift Baltimore and New York clippers which 
carried Northern commerce, or manoeuvre against Yankee 
gunboats. The experience of the Merrimac had also 
shown that ironclads must be depended on for home de- 



IN TROD UC TOR Y 7 

fence, or for attack on Northern harbors. A number of 
the most efficient naval officers of the South were there- 
fore sent abroad to seek facilities not to be had at home, 
and to contract on the basis of the South's cotton-credit 
for such ships as were required. None of the ironclads 
contracted for were completed when the war closed. Of 
the " cruiser " class, the Alabama, the Florida, and the 
Texas reached completion, but only the first two in time 
for service. The Texas was ready about the date of the 
surrender. She was contracted for by Capt. Geo. T. Sin- 
clair. The officer contracting for the 290 and the 
Oreto was Capt. Jas. D. Bulloch, whose brain conceived, 
and whose patience, caution, and executive ability, 
overcoming the most serious obstacles and discourage- 
ment, successfully materialized the " Scourge of the Seas." 
He arrived in Liverpool in the character of a private indi- 
vidual, and as such contracted with the Millers for the 
Oreto ( Florida ), and subsequently with the Lairds for the 
290 ( Alabama ) ; Fraser, Trenholm, & Co., cotton mer- 
chants of Liverpool, assuming the responsibility of pay- 
ment. The whole transaction was as between private 
parties, and so not liable to interference of the English 
authorities except upon proof of the violation of neutrality 
laws. But the obvious policy of the Confederacy was of 
course not overlooked by the United States government ; 
and neither Bulloch's incognito, nor the utmost secrecy of 
all parties to the contracts, could prevent the watching 
of foreign shipyards by agents, and ultimate moral certainty 
as to the nature of the work in hand. But moral cer- 
tainty and legally sufficient proof are separate things. 
And Capt. Bulloch managed to push his affairs to comple- 
tion before specific information, backed by the demands 
of the United States and passed upon by British red tape, 
could put a stop to proceedings. 

The Alabama was a screw steamer with full sail-power. 



8 TWO YEARS' ON THE ALABAMA 

She measured 235 ft. over all, beam 32 ft., tonnage 1,000. 
Her draft with full coal-bunkers was 1 5 ft. Her engines 
were two in number, horizontal, of 300 nominal, or 1,000 
actual horse-power. She was barkentine-rigged, with very 
long lower masts, giving her principal sails an immense 
"drop" or surface. She was at the same time a perfect 
steamer and a perfect sailing-vessel, each entirely inde- 
pendent of the other. Her screw, which was a two-bladed 
one, hoisted in a propeller-well, and when triced up was 
quite clear of the water, hence no drag or impediment to 
her speed under sail-power alone. Kept constantly under 
banked fires, and with frequent hoisting and lowering of 
screw, her crew and engineers executed this manoeuvre 
with surprising alacrity and precision. Indeed, so rapidly 
could she be changed from sail to steam-power that no 
enemy, appearing on the horizon in clear weather, could 
surprise her under sail, nor could a sailing-vessel of supe- 
rior speed escape her before getting her full steam-power. 
The ship was rigged square at fore and main, and 
carried royals ; also fore and main trysails, fore and foretop- 
mast staysails, jib, spanker, and gaff -topsail, and studding- 
sails. The main-course set " flying," and was seldom used 
on account of its tendency to foul the smokestack. The 
standing rigging was of wire. The capacity of the coal- 
bunkers was 375 tons, or sufficient for eighteen days full 
steaming. Her speed under the most favorable conditions 
was 13-4 to 13-6 knots by actual observation, or fifteen 
and three-quarters statute miles — about the extreme of 
speed attained in sea-going vessels of that day. The ar- 
mament consisted of one 8-inch solid shot or shell gun aft, 
one 7-inch 100-pounder rifle forward, six 32-pounders, 
weighing 5,700 lbs. each in broadside. Eight guns in 
broadside was originally intended ; but the battery seeming 
too heavy, one was omitted, and in action a gun could 
be shifted from side to side to effect the result required. 



INTRO D UCTOR Y 9 

The Alabama cost, complete, about $250,000. She was 
launched May 15, 1862, and July 29, without armament, 
stores, or a properly shipped crew, started on her "trial 
trip " down the Mersey. But from this trial trip she was 
already booked never to return to her moorings. 



10 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER II 

ESCAPE FROM THE MERSEY, AND FITTING OUT AT THE 

AZORES 

In spite of the utmost precaution, evidence of the real 
ownership and purpose of the 290 had been accumu- 
lated and formally lodged with her Majesty's ministers, 
and the seizure and detention of the vessel was only a 
question of hours. But Bulloch had prepared for such 
a contingency. As she must leave England under the 
British flag, a British master must also be provided. This 
was itself a matter of no small delicacy ; for a master once 
at sea is a power absolutely despotic, and the betrayal of 
this vessel into hostile hands would have been amply 
rewarded just then, and could be managed without much 
evidence even of ill-faith. The gentleman chosen for this 
service was Capt. Mathew J. Butcher of the Royal Naval 
Reserve, formerly first officer of the Cunarder Kamac — a 
fine sailor, and the soul of honor. To him Bulloch confi- 
dently trusted, and his faith was not misplaced. But the 
public is already familiar with the events of the Alabama's 
escape and safe arrival at Terceira in the Western Islands. 

In the meantime, the officers detailed for the Alabama 
had met at Liverpool, most of them arriving from Nassau 
on the steamer Bahama, Aug. 8, 1862. On the thirteenth, 
all embarked on same steamer for Terceira. It may well 
be imagined there was field for much thought as we 
steamed our way to the Western Islands. The career of 
the Sumter, though short-lived, had been eminently suc- 
cessful, and had taught us what a vast amount of destruc- 
tion on the high seas was possible with a suitable cruiser 



ESCAPE TO THE AZORES II 

under us. It had also impressed upon us that our enemy 
was not unappreciative of the situation, and knowing that 
our government had vessels under construction in England, 
would most likely cover each highway of commerce with 
swift and powerful pursuers. The familiar and significant 
term " pirates " applied to Southern cruisers would most 
likely be given a practical illustration, should defeat be our 
destiny. We found later the consensus of foreign opinion 
very emphatic, that had we been captured during the hey- 
day of our raid, we should have had meted out to us the 
full penalty. Butcher informed us he was somewhat un- 
easy upon making out a steamer (the Bahama) standing 
in for the anchorage, having visions of a United States 
cruiser. Work had already begun transferring stores to 
the 290 and so far all had gone merry as a marriage 
bell. Serames at once relieved Butcher of his charge, and 
with his officers spent the first night on board the vessel 
that for two years was to be our home. 

The Alabama had escaped from English waters a simple 
despatch boat, so called, with nothing to indicate for what 
purpose designed ; no guns or warlike implements of any 
kind on board. You can but faintly imagine the bustle 
and apparent confusion existing. The carpenter and 
mates assisted by the engineers were measuring and put- 
ting down the "circles" for the two pivot-guns. The 
boatswain and mates fitting train and side-tackles to the 
broadside guns. Gunner stowing the magazine, shot and 
shell lockers. Sailmaker looking after his spare sails, and 
seeing them safely stored in the sailroom. All this with 
the three different crews of the 290, Bahama, and 
Agrippina ; men heretofore unknown to each other, and 
in utter ignorance of the object of the expedition beyond 
what could be seen on the surface. It was essential we 
get to sea as soon as possible ; for besides the danger of 
an enemy's cruiser happening in, the authorities might sus- 



12 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

pect something wrong and send notice to the mainland. 
Day and night on goes the work : each hour the 290 
looking more like a man-of-war; but all this time there 
does not exist on board any authority or right to order 
these men to the guns should our enemy put in an appear- 
ance. They are British subjects, shipped for the voyage 
from Liverpool to the Azores. Their obligation ceases 
after transferring the cargoes of the two tenders to the 
cruiser, and they are at liberty to take return passage on 
their respective vessels back to Liverpool on full pay until 
arrival there. Knowing the men were fully aware that to 
ship under any other flag would vitiate their claim to Brit- 
ish protection, was an element of great anxiety to us, and 
until a crew had been secured, kept us on a terrible ten- 
sion. We were helpless without a crew. While the prepa- 
ration of our ship for sea was going on, no little annoyance 
and delay was caused by the officials of the island. Being 
so rarely visited by either naval or merchant vessels, they 
were seldom called upon to act in their official capacity, 
and were but little versed in international law. Still, they 
knew enough to require our entering at the custom house, 
and also insisted upon our changing our anchorage. This 
latter we did, being too well pleased to find so little re- 
quired of us, though the change removed us from a still 
harbor to one of a rough character. The status of the ves- 
sel was evidently a sealed book to them, else we should 
have had them about our ears like a swarm of hornets. 
Still, we have little doubt they afterward congratulated 
themselves that ignorance was bliss in their case ; for had 
we been ordered from their waters before arming and get- 
ting ready for the cruise, the immigration which later 
poured on their shores from the captured whaling-ships 
would never have occurred, and the rich trading with the 
officers and crews of burned prizes would never have 
fallen to their lot. Perhaps in its history the island has 




Commander Raphael Semmes. 

This picture was taken the day after the fight, and shows his wounded right arm at ease. 
The face shows the wear and tear of three years' grapple with battle and storm. 



SHIPPING THE BATTERY 1 3 

not experienced so lively a trade as the Alabama sent it. 
We landed a small regiment of men with much rich booty 
to dispose of ; and no doubt the islanders were fully aware 
this plunder must change hands at some price, and secured 
good bargains in their barter. The whale-boats and their 
cargoes of provisions from the destroyed whaling-fleet 
amounted to, in the aggregate, at least the value of any one 
of the destroyed vessels, and the whole of it passed into 
the hands of these islanders. 

But we have strayed from the matter just now in 
hand. On the morning of the 21st, the 290, accompa- 
nied by the Bahama, Capt. Tessier, and Agrippina, Capt. 
McQueen, steamed off shore to the leeward of the islands 
beyond the marine league, and in smooth water, and 
hoisted on board her armament, placing it "in battery," 
reeving side and train tackles, stowing shot and shell 
rooms, filling shot-racks on deck, and putting ship gener- 
ally in fighting trim. There was some swell on ; and such 
work was not accomplished without danger and inconven- 
ience, the pivot-guns being particularly dangerous to trans- 
fer, as they weighed several tons each. Having managed 
this task by evening, we again hauled in under the lee of 
the land and anchored. The next morning we coaled 
ship from the transport. Thus, after several days of toil 
and deep anxiety, order is brought out of chaos, and the 
290 is a fighting ship, minus a crew. All hands are 
" turned to," and the ship rid of coal-dust, debris, etc., 
and put in first-class man-of-war shape. Holystones do 
their perfect work, and the brass work and battery shine 
in the summer sun. Yards are then squared, rigging 
hauled taut and " flemished " down on deck, and we are 
ready for the sea. 

On the morning of Sunday, Aug. 24, 1862, in company 
with the Bahama, we again put to sea, to unfurl for the 
first time at the peak of the Alabama the flag of the 



14 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

young Confederacy. The men of the two accompanying 
vessels, with the exception of working-crews, were trans- 
ferred to the deck of the 290. The officers were all in 
full uniform, of an attractive shade of gray, with a redun- 
dancy of gold lace, quite dressy, yet shockingly inap- 
propriate to marine traditions, and which impressed our 
compeers of other navies, clothed in the regulation true 
blue, as at least a startling innovation. The crews of the 
several vessels are before us, dressed in every description 
of merchant-ship toggery. We may safely say the con- 
trast of dress had much to do with winning the favor and 
respect of these waifs of ocean, and securing the ser- 
vices of the pick of them. Reaching the offing, both 
steamers are hove-to near each other. The officers and 
men are now mustered aft by " call " of boatswain (we 
had no boatswain's mates as yet), and Semmes mounting 
a gun-carriage, first reads his commission from the Presi- 
dent of the Confederate States as a Commander of the 
Confederate States Navy, and the order of the Secretary 
of the Navy, directing him to assume command of this 
ship. The officers and men were grouped close around 
him in a semi-circle, the former farthest aft, and all with 
uncovered heads. During the reading, the men, to whom 
especially it was a novel sight, seemed deeply moved. It 
was a grand subject for a painter. The reading over, the 
"stops" to the halliards at the peak and mainmast head 
were broken, and the flag and pennant of the young 
nation floated to the breeze. At the same moment a gun 
booms from the weather quarter, and a quarter-master 
standing by the English colors (Henry Marmelstein a 
Southern coast pilot and afterwards second officer of the 
Tuscaloosa) hauls them down, and the 290 becomes the 
C. S. S. Alabama. 

Our captain now addresses the men in a few curt but 
eloquent and persuasive words, making known to them the 



GETTING A CREW 1 5 

character of the vessel, her nationality, purpose of the 
cruise, and causes leading to it. He lays before them 
both the bright and dark side of the venture, tells them 
they will receive double the wages paid by the English 
government, and in gold. Also an equivalent of one-half 
the value of the destroyed and bonded vessels as prize 
money, this latter to be voted them by the Congress of 
the Confederate States. Dilates on the certainty of grog 
twice a day, as in the English navy (a strong inducement 
to Jack, as Semmes well knew), generous rations, much 
superior to that of any other navy, and good treatment 
generally, with incidentally the purpose to lay them along- 
side one of the enemy's cruisers, should one of about 
equal weight of metal be fallen in with, and their tastes 
tending this way. On the other hand, he gives them to 
understand distinctly, that the Alabama is no privateer, or 
irresponsible nondescript to roam the ocean without dis- 
cipline or order, for the purpose of plunder, but a bona fide 
Confederate man-of-war commissioned by the president, 
flying the flag of the voung Republic, and governed in 
her domestic life by certain rules and regulations of the 
Confederate Congress, to be referred to later ; and to dis- 
obey these rules would subject them to certain and may 
be severe punishment. The hardships of the cruise are 
portrayed, the constant cruising in all climes, toils of 
working ship and boarding vessels in all weather night 
and day, and possibly with but little respite ; and to wind 
up, the quite possible chance of having a halter about 
their necks in case of capture and the non-success of the 
cause in which they were asked to engage. Now the bid 
for a crew had been made. Semmes dismounts from the 
gun-carriage and engages in a conversation with his 
executive, the boatswain " pipes down," and the men 
scatter forward in groups about the spar-deck, discussing 
the pros and cons of the situation. In the meantime, the 



1 6 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

paymaster has brought amidships, to the capstan, his 
shipping-list, and like the rest of us, awaits the result of 
our gallant commander's speech. Momentous pause ! for 
of what use are the heaviest guns, the fastest cruiser, the 
picked talent of a navy, without a crew. It is a beauti- 
ful day, the sun shining cheerfully through the thin 
broken clouds, the ship looking like a bride in her bright 
decorations. Surely these sailor lads must fall in love 
with her. That they are brave and resolute we do not 
wish to be told, and surely they will not abandon her to 
her officers alone to care for. But the suspense is eas- 
ing. One by one the groups dissolve, and Jack, hat in 
hand, presents himself at the capstan, and signs the 
"articles," till eighty-five men have been secured. Safe 
now! The Alabama is able to man and fight nearly her 
entire battery ! We have eighty-five less Englishmen on 
board than before. These men have forfeited the pro- 
tection of the English government by this act of enlist- 
ment, and must now look to the brave young banner 
floating over them to carry them through. No little 
struggle it is to men to make the plunge, knowing as 
they do the perfect security abandoned by this act of 
enlistment ; and that they have enlisted, fully realizing the 
gravity of the situation, binds them to their officers with 
hooks of steel. Nothing now remains but to arrange 
financial matters for the brave fellows. Our active pay- 
master, assisted by Bulloch, captain's clerk Smith, and 
others are preparing half-pay tickets for such of the men 
as have mothers, wives, or sweethearts in England. It 
was far into the night before the labors of the paymaster 
and his assistants were wound up, and the Alabama ready 
for her grim work. 

Bulloch had the whole creation as an entirety to look to, 
hence to him the whole credit. Further, it was a graceful 
act in him to accompany the vessel to Terceira and lend 



UNFURLING THE FLAG 1 7 

his invaluable aid in equipping her for sea. I can truly 
add that not even the most trifling article necessary to the 
efficiency of the vessel could be named as wanting. At 
the period of which we write, the Alabama was the most 
perfect cruiser of any nation afloat. 

And a thing of beauty and a joy forever she was to us. 

And thus the christening of this vessel, destined to be 
the scourge of her enemy and the admiration of the world.- 
So long as history is read will the tale of the exploits of the 
Alabama excite curiosity, and call forth notes of admiration 
and wonder. How strange the sensation created by the 
sight of this new, scarce recognized flag, floating at our 
peak. It was quite natural that the crew should gaze upon 
it with curiosity, "this banner with a strange device." 
Jack is just now drawing comparisons between H. B. M's. 
navy and this just-hatched bantam claiming and asserting 
an equality with the battle-worn monarchs of the sea, and 
doubtless somewhat staggered at the presumption, and with 
grave and serious doubts in his mind as to the ability to 
establish it. 



TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER III 

GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE NEW SHIP J HER GOOD 
QUALITIES ; PERSONNEL OF OFFICERS AND CREW ; DRILL- 
ING ; OUR FIRST PRIZE ; THE OLD FLAG LOWERED 

The time has now arrived for good-bys. Look at her, 
reader, from the deck of the Bahama ; a long, trim, black 
hull, elliptic stern, fiddle-head cutwater, long, raking lower 
masts, and you have the picture of the rover. Bulloch, 
with a hearty shake of the hand and a God-speed to each 
of us, steps over the gangway. The Bahama's crew give 
us three cheers, which are answered by our gallant tars, 
the steamer turns her head for old England, and is soon 
lost on the horizon. And now for two long, weary, watch- 
ful years, in which the motto on our steering-wheel, " Aide 
toi, et Dien taidera" is to be tested. 

" Our march is o'er the ocean wave, 
Our home is on the deep." 

The representative of the Confederate States is now alone 
on the ocean, the last friend and companion ship having 
disappeared from our view. 

We have been some days at sea, and have marked the 
speed and wonderful working qualities of our newly ac- 
quired cruiser. It will be fully appreciated by our sailor 
readers, when we can say that the Alabama would go " in 
stays," and without fail, with a breeze giving her little 
more than steerage way; and in "working ship," later on, 
around prizes, the captains of these vessels would be 
struck with the remarkable quickness and sureness with 



GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE NEW SHIP 1 9 

which she was handled. Frequently has the writer heard 
them to remark, upon hearing the orders given, " Ready- 
about ! " "Why, Lieutenant! You don't tell me this 
vessel will ' stay ' in this light wind ? " and have been lost 
in admiration upon witnessing the manoeuvre successfully 
accomplished. Indeed, she could be worked around a 
prize like a pilot-boat. There is nothing so excites Jack's 
pride and interest in his ship as to learn she can be de- 
pended upon in emergencies. It not only secures his 
confidence, but hints at much less brace-hauling of an un- 
necessary character. 

The engine-room fires are banked, screw hoisted, and 
under easy canvas our head is turned to the north-east. 
This formidable engine of destruction is fairly launched 
on its mission, and we may speculate on the outcome of 
her efforts ; but even with the acme of our wishes and ex- 
pectations fully realized, how very far short shall we find 
them of results to be accomplished ! That we look for- 
ward to seriously cripple and demoralize American com- 
merce, unless promptly captured or sunk, goes without 
saying ; but that a state of affairs bordering on total anni- 
hilation of it should have been the outcome of the Ala- 
bama's cruise was more than the most sanguine of us 
hoped for, and many times surpassed our fondest day- 
dreams. We can pardon fully the incredulity of the far 
future reader of history when he comes to study the career 
of this seemingly charmed cruiser (a venture, at that, of an 
agricultural race against a people cradled on the ocean), 
and note the result of the Alabama's raid. But again is 
truth found stranger than fiction. A still more romantic 
and fuller history might have been hers, had not the Ala- 
bama voluntarily sought her doom in the historic English 
Channel. The grim work was still before her, had the 
election been to avoid conflict with the Kearsarge, and 
this without a stain clinging to her proud name, over- 



20 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

matched in every particular as she was. Better, how- 
ever, as it is — her last effort sealing her title to lasting 
renown. 

If one had the proper gift for description, something of 
great interest might be made of the individualities to be 
found among the officers and crew of the Alabama. In 
trying to convey any impression of our personnel, it is al- 
most indispensable to draw some kind of a pen-picture of 
the more prominent personages who enter into the narra- 
tive. Of these our first " Luff," Mr. Kell, comes upper- 
most by a head and shoulders. He stands six feet two, 
and is of stalwart frame, lithe and straight as an Indian, 
with a fine head, and a mild, benevolent, dark-blue eye, 
that can flash lightning all the same on occasion. His 
phenomenal mustache and beard, of auburn color, give 
him the very presence of an ancient viking. The former 
will meet behind his head, and the latter flows down to his 
hips. The second lieutenant, Armstrong, is of more mod- 
ern type, but also blue-eyed, straight, and fully a six-footer. 
He has an excitable temperament, is quick of impulse and 
speech, but always talks and acts to the purpose. He is 
a born ruler of men. The third lieutenant, Wilson, is 
shorter by a couple of inches, with dark complexion, eyes, 
and hair. He is very quick-tempered, and rather vindic- 
tive toward his foes, but otherwise a most generous and 
warm-hearted man. There are two other personages who 
cannot be omitted from this formal presentment. The 
first is Evans, our wonderful scout. Though a genuine 
salt, he, too, is erect on his pins as a drum-major, and quite 
as sensitive in the matter of personal dignity. I have 
often thought that Wilson was the most earnest JigJiter I 
ever saw ; but Evans was brave to absolute recklessness. 
His steel-gray eye is like an eagle's in its concentration of 
energy. Evans is also a great yarn-spinner, as you shall 
find when you catch him off duty, and in the mood. His 




■ irst Lieutenant and Executive Officer John Mcintosh Kel 



OFFICERS AND CREW. 21 

ability to determine the nationality of ships amounts to 
genius, and upon this point he cannot endure charring. 
Fulham, the prize-master, is a typical Englishman, five feet 
eight in height, broad-shouldered and muscular, with blue 
eyes, brown hair, and huge side whiskers. A typical 
sailor too, big hearted, full of animal spirits and fun. 
Fulham can spin the toughest yarn of any man on board ; 
and with this quality, joined to his happy and magnetic 
disposition, he succeeds in keeping chipper even the cap- 
tains of the prizes he calls upon in the way of duty. 
Withal, it may as well be said here, Fulham was a most 
competent officer, and would have graced a lieutenant's 
commission. At the time of joining us, he was in the 
English Royal Naval Reserve. 1 

Our crew was in a sense " Hobson's choice," as has been 
seen. Pretty hard characters, some of them, no doubt ; 
but all the same, a bronzed, stalwart, well-seasoned set of 
fellows, who now that they have exchanged their nonde- 
script rags for our paymaster's nobby blue-and-white uni- 
forms, look as promising as any set of men that ever went 
to sea. How this promise was fulfilled is now a matter 
of history, though we shall have occasion to speak of it as 
we go. 

The writer has frequently been asked if he did not have 
"a good time" on the Alabama. Well, not by any means 
the sort of a time one usually proposes to himself by way 
of choice — if he likes comfort and ease. Taking the 
average, the work of the cruise was done by less than one 
hundred men : subtract boys and idlers, and the hard 
work fell upon a very few. And such work ! The cap- 

1 The Royal Naval Reserve also gave us our fourth lieutenant, Low, who as a 
sailor ranked easily with Kell. His superb seamanship undoubtedly saved the Ala- 
bama from foundering when struck by the cyclone. He was officer of the deck at the 
time, and wore ship on his own responsibility. Had he hesitated for an instant, and 
allowed the tempest to catch him on the port-tack, there can be little question that 
this story would never have been written. 



22 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

tures bear but a trifling proportion to the vessels boarded. 
With no night, Sunday, or holiday, sea-watches always, at 
sea or in port. Drill, drill, drill ! boarding, boarding, 
boarding, in all weather ! Did men ever go through so 
much in the two years we were afloat ? Talk about 
army life ! why, Jack's synonym for an easy life is 
"soldiering." The seaman of the present day very little 
resembles the bronzed, hardened, thoroughly trained salt 
Jack so fully represented on the Alabama. It is certain 
that no crew able to do the work ours did could be shipped 
in any port of the world to-day. 

The watch-officers of the Alabama had all seen service 
in the United States navy excepting one, — Lieut. John 
Low (who was an Englishman and trained in the merchant 
service), — and were thoroughly competent for the excep- 
tional work required of them. The engineers were not 
only able to handle the engines in all emergencies, but to 
make the frequent and often difficult repairs that usually 
are intrusted only to machine-shops. The master's mates 
were thorough seamen, quite competent to take the deck 
and manoeuvre or navigate the ship. They were invalua- 
ble assistants in boarding, and relieving the overworked 
watch-officers when bad weather made our duties arduous. 
The midshipmen, as a matter of course, were little experi- 
enced except at gun-drill. But they were apt and intelli- 
gent, and they had rare opportunities for acquiring sea- 
manship. Before many months they were all able to work 
the ship, and were handy with sextant and chronometer. 
We had, as will be guessed, some old man-of-war's men 
among the crew, competent to take the place of petty 
officers and to give instruction to the rest, as well as to 
set an example of submission to man-of-war discipline. 
This last, by the way, our Jack of the merchant service 
does not take to quite so naturally as he does to his abun- 
dant and well-cooked rations, or his allowance of grog. 



TRAINING FOR DUTY. 23 

But with all our advantages, we needed time to organize 
and drill ere we were fit, not only to fight an enemy's 
cruiser, but even to capture and board a prize. Our 
course lay for some days to the N. E. rather out of the 
track of commerce. Our fires were banked and propeller 
hoisted, as coal was always to be most carefully econo- 
mized, and we moved along under easy sail. In this way 
we burn but one ton of coal per day ; and as the boilers 
are hot, we can always have steam in fifteen minutes when 
we need it. We are bound for no port, and while coal 
lasts we are not apt to seek one. The deep will tell no 
tales as to our whereabouts, and will offer our crew no op- 
portunities for dissipation. The Alabama is also nearly as 
good under sail as steam, and it will be a swift clipper in- 
deed that compels us to resort to the latter in chase, unless 
we are in a very great hurry. We expect to keep the 
ocean for many months at a stretch. 

We have now been at sea for some days, no sail sighted, 
nothing to break the monotony but the blue broken clouds 
above, and the lazy splash of the sea under our forefoot 
and propeller-well. But the deck is a bee-hive of industry. 
Here you will see a gun's crew under instruction of the 
lieutenant and midshipman of the division. At another 
point boatswain Mecaskey and his mates, marline-spikes 
in hand, deep in the mystery of a side or train tackle to be 
altered, and anon growling out an oath or two however the 
work is going on, a little more emphatic if a lubberly job 
meets his eye, but a swear or two anyhow, just to let his 
mates know he is boatswain Mecaskey. Now we have 
gunner Cuddy with his mates, polish in hand ; for you 
must know that the battery is to be blacked, pumiced, and 
polished to a degree to put to blush a dude's patent leath- 
ers. We doubt not our capable gunner has already loaded 
his battery with blank cartridge, at least he should have 
done so ; for if the enemy luffs alongside of us in the night 



24 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

it takes less time to return his fire with only shot or shell 
to be rammed home. But we feel sure that everything is 
being put shipshape in the ordnance department. Sail- 
maker Alcott is on the verge of collapse with the impor- 
tance of his trust ; though the first set of sails has just been 
bent, and from present weather appearances is likely to 
do many a month's service. Still our "man of canvas " is 
casting an " eye to windward " for embryo squalls or blows, 
and putting some spare sails in the locker. Who knows 
but in him we have a seer, and that is why he is now over- 
hauling the storm maintrysail which is to do such impor- 
tant work on the 16th of October next? Our carpenter, 
William Robinson, is perhaps the least busy man to be 
found among our artisans ; for unless the first lieutenant 
has some odd job on hand for him, it is more than likely 
he will have to " soldier " until some enemy's cruiser has 
knocked a plank or two off us, or old Boreas has embraced 
some spar. 

Twelve o'clock now. We call it "eight bells." Who 
watches its advent with more thought and anxiety than 
Jack ? He is impatient for rest and dinner, introduced by 
a little Jamaica for the thirsty soul. The sailing-master, 
who, sextant in hand, has been " taking " the sun, touches 
his hat and reports to the captain standing by his side, 
"Twelve o'clock, sir — latitude so and so;" the answer 
comes, "Make it so, sir." The master now reports the 
time to the officer of the deck, who in turn directs the 
messenger-boy to strike the bell. As the sounds dies 
away, the boatswain and his mates pipe to dinner, and a 
sweeter sound than that from a boatswain's pipe one would 
not wish to listen to. Jack now files around the grog-tub, 
and as his name is called, crooks his elbow, throws back 
his head, and swallows felicity. Forward he rolls, rubbing 
his paunch and wishing he had it to do over again ; and so 
he would if that vigilant officer had his eye off him for a 



THE FIRST PRIZE. 2$ 

moment. " Doubling on the grog-tub " is no crime, no, 
not even a misdemeanor, in Jack's eyes, so watch him well, 
lieutenant ! Let's go forward, even without an invitation, 
and see these late British subjects at dinner. A stiff " tot " 
of grog has cheered spirits and loosened tongue ; and be- 
tween chunks of salt horse and hardtack, he is eloquently 
expatiating on the events of the past few weeks, and giv- 
ing his opinion of matters general and particular. Jack is 
never modest in the forecastle, especially if he has doubled 
the " Horn." But we do not find much of an assortment 
of silver-ware decorating Jack's table. Seated on the deck, 
legs doubled under tailor-fashion, with a tablecloth of 
black painted canvas, and dishes and plates of tinware, 
sheathknife in hand he cuts a slab of salt beef or pork 
from the skid, and with a "hardtack " for a plate, makes his 
attack, alternating with a pull at his coffee or tea dipper. 
But little time is consumed at the meal, for Jack is a rapid 
eater — considers time spent in eating almost wasted ; pipe 
and tobacco is the goal of his desire, and he wants all the 
time possible for the enjoyment of it, and for the inevitable 
yarn to be spun before the boatswain's whistle calls him to 
duty again. 

We have now been twelve days on our cruise, and con- 
stant work getting our ship into fighting and sailing trim 
has almost banished from our thoughts the prime object 
of our adventure on the ocean. With constant drilling at 
great guns, sabre or pistol exercise, repelling boarders with 
pikes, etc., our crew have at last inspired confidence in 
their officers and gained it for themselves. 

On Sept. 5, after dinner, a sail was made from the 
masthead, hove-to, with her maintopsail aback. Wind 
light. We approached her under the United States colors. 
She did not move tack or sheet. No thought on her part 
of a Confederate cruiser ! A little later the enemy did not 
tumble into our arms so easily, for ill news travels apace. 



26 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Still showing United States colors we boarded her. She 
proved to be the ship Ocmulgee. Alongside of her was 
a large sperm whale, just captured, and being stripped 
of blubber and bone. A prize-crew was thrown on board 
of her, her officers and men transferred to the Alabama, 
and we lay all night in sight. We were now on the whal- 
ing-ground of the Western Islands ; and lest the bonfire 
should light up the night and stampede the rest of the 
whaling-fleet, we waited before firing her, in the mean- 
time transferring some provisions and small stores from 
the prize. Next morning our boarding-officer took his 
first lesson in the art of firing a ship. Perhaps the reader 
may imagine there is no art in it. Well, one way to 
do a thing well, another to bungle, there always seems to 
be. We have many more to send "where the woodbine 
twineth ; " so listen to the modus operandi (though we 
were not put to the trouble with this whaler — inflammable 
enough without any preparation). First, you cut up with 
your broadaxe the cabin and forecastle bunks, generally 
of white pine lumber. You will find, doubtless, the mat- 
tresses stuffed with straw, and in the cabin pantry part 
at least of a keg of butter and lard. Make a foundation of 
the splinters and straw, pour on top the lard and butter. 
One pile in cabin, the other in forecastle. Get your men in 
the boats, all but the incendiaries, and at the given word — 
" Fire ! " shove off, and take it as truth, that before you 
have reached your own ship, the blaze is licking the topsails 
of the doomed ship. We witness to-day for the first time 
the hauling down of the Stars and Stripes — to those of 
us who served in the old navy, a humbling of the emblem 
at our hands, carrying with it many a cruel wrench and 
sad retrospect. To men who in days gone by had stood on 
the quarter-deck, with the doff of cap, and amid the glitter 
of uniforms, presenting of arms, and strains of the national 
air, and daily witnessed the morning ceremony of hoisting 



TWO WEEKS IN COMMISSION. 2"J 

this flag at the peak, it was difficult to disassociate the act 
with desecration. 

The writer can never forget the feelings and impres- 
sions of this first capture, and the sight later on of the 
burning ship brought sorrow to the heart. I may almost 
say shame ; but war ! cruel, inhuman war ! soon blunts the 
sentimental impulses, and what seemed at first sheer ruth- 
lessness became in time a matter of course. It must be 
acknowledged that after a brief space of time the cry, " Sail 
ho ! " from aloft, was received with the heartfelt wish she 
would prove a prize. The day after the capture of the 
Ocmulgee we made the Island of Flores, and being now 
on whaling-ground the ship is "hove-to." We can here 
await the oil-fleet. This is what may be styled " still 
hunting." Being quite near the land, the boats of the 
prize, which have been towing astern of us, are hauled 
alongside, and our prisoners, after being paroled, allowed 
to depart for the shore. They were far from being desti- 
tute, having by permission secured full loads of provis- 
ions, all their whaling-gear and other odds and ends, and 
would soon after landing be under the protection of the 
American consul. The plunder was to them clear gain 
and pocket-change. We have now been two weeks in 
commission, having changed colors on Sunday, Aug. 24. 
Ten o'clock ("four bells ") having arrived, we go to mus- 
ter. Our former vagabonds, arrayed in all the colors of 
Joseph's coat, would not be recognized just now. Stand- 
ing in a group on the quarter-deck, the commander and 
his officers abaft of them, the " Articles of War " are read ; 
and as the death penalty is frequently mentioned therein, 
Jack looks first up, then down, and at his mates most 
significantly. He is evidently coming to the conclusion 
there is something serious in this business. This ended, 
the muster-roll is called ; and as his name is reached, each 
man, now dressed in white frock and pants, pumps and 



28 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

sennet hat in hand, passes around the capstan and for- 
ward. "Inspection" is over, and the "pipe down" is 
"called." It is wonderful what effect even just two weeks 
of soap and discipline has had on our crew. We had 
among them a few young boys who had smuggled them- 
selves on board the Bahama at Liverpool, and had turned 
up on deck during our stay at Terceira. Being useful as 
messenger-boys and "powder monkeys," they were signed 
and put to duty. Among them was one Egan, and a 
tougher case Liverpool could not produce. The sailors 
had brought from port a pet cat ; and all who know a 
sailor will recognize the bond of affection existing be- 
tween him and his pet, be it what species it may. The 
cat was missed a few days out of port, and faithful search 
having been made in vain, Egan was hauled up to the 
mast charged with knowing the fate or whereabouts of the 
animal. It seems he was suspected from some known 
circumstances, together with his reputation for -mischief 
already established. Egan was "spread eagled " in the 
mizzen rigging barefooted, and was holding out well, deny- 
ing all knowledge of the whereabouts of puss. In the 
meantime, a sail was made from aloft, the after pivot- 
gun cleared away for the purpose of heaving-to the vessel. 
One would suppose Egan to have been a student of Mar- 
ryatt from his selection of queer pranks when upon tak- 
ing the tompion from the muzzle of the gun out jumps 
pussy. Egan soon after confessed judgment, being unable 
to stand the punishment longer, and upon being interro- 
gated as to why he did it, replied, " Oh, to see what effect 
the firing would have on the cat ! " 

Soon after muster we have the cry from aloft, " Sail 
ho ! " The two vessels now approach each other on op- 
posite tacks and with a fresh breeze. The chase of the 
schooner was most exciting to us, and no doubt her skip- 
per's nerves were on a tension — a touch and go capture, 



PRIZES TO BURN 2$ 

and will be to all time a memorable retrospect to him. 
This little schooner was bound from Fayal to Boston, via 
Flores, to land passengers, and, as we perceived upon get- 
ting within two or three miles, had some females on board. 
She declined showing colors in answer to our English flag 
flung to the breeze, well knowing her build and cut of sails 
stamped her American to us, and our blank cartridge sig- 
nificantly hinting our nationality. She had the land about 
six miles distant, a fresh breeze blowing, the wind abeam, 
her best point of sailing, and was evidently resolved on 
reaching the charmed marine league, if possible ; before 
overhauled. The presence of females on her deck pre- 
cluded our firing a shot, even near her, if avoidable, but 
the indomitable pluck of her skipper forced the matter. 
A thirty-two shot was plunged a few feet ahead of her. 
Still the little captain had no idea of surrender. The 
breeze was too fresh and land too near. Evidently noth- 
ing entered into his calculation but the haven of rest and 
safety ahead. As usual in such cases, " the bull was taken 
by the horns," and another shot fired, passing just over 
his deck, and between the fore and main sails. The jig 
was up. In a moment the graceful little craft luffed to 
the strong breeze, jib-sheet to windward. Doubtless but 
for the lady passengers this typical specimen of a venture- 
some Yankee would have stood fire and escaped. We 
could but feel regret at his ill-luck. His pluck deserved 
success — a brighter fellow under adversity it would be 
difficult to find. Being now close aboard the Islands, the 
crew of the prize are landed under parole. We are vis- 
ited by a number of boats from the shore, and soon the 
mess caterers are bargaining for fish, turtles, fruit, etc. 
The governor and staff made us a visit, were entertained, 
and seemed favorably impressed. 

The ship's head is now put off shore under easy sail 
(generally single reefed topsails), for we are in no hurry 



30 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

— only on a loaf off the group of the Azores. The whal- 
ing-fleet are to catch us rather than we them. Each day 
or so brings along the game ; and by the ist of October we 
have, in addition to the two captures already mentioned, 
boarded and burned the following eight vessels — all 
whalers : Ocean Rover, Alert, Weathergauge, Altamaha, 
Ben Tucker, Courser, Virginia, and Elisha Dunbar. 

A small whaling-vessel belonging to the island was 
cruising in company with the American whale-fleet, and 
a witness to our work of destruction. We had captured 
a vessel, and an attempt had been made by our prize-crew 
to scuttle her, under orders, the idea being to destroy her 
without having the smoke of a conflagration to warn the 
enemy of our presence. As the reader can doubtless 
foresee, it proved a failure from the nature of the cargo, 
the result being simply that the oil-casks floating to the 
top forced off the hatches, and the vessel filling with 
water soon covered the ocean with barrels of oil. Our 
island whaling-skipper, permission being obtained, soon 
found himself possessed of a cargo without the risk of 
hunting. We need not inform you this mode of getting 
rid of a prize was not repeated. It was evidently con- 
ceived and acted on without due thought, and in the 
excitement and hurry of destruction. No doubt our 
" Dago " skipper was furnished for all time with a yarn to 
spin of how he filled up in one day on one of his whaling 
voyages. Still it was a case of reciprocity, the Portuguese 
skipper removing so much property that otherwise would 
most likely have been recovered by the enemy. 

The skipper of the Ocean Rover brought on board of us 
an immense fruit-cake put up in tin, the last of four, sup- 
plied by the goodwife "to hum" to celebrate the wedding- 
day — an old custom with the whalers. "Well," remarked 
the captain, "the wedding-day is not at hand yet, but you 
had as well enjoy the cake, gentlemen." Little did the 



PEOPLING THE AZORES 3 I 

thoughtful and provident goodwife imagine under what 
auspices and surroundings the ceremony of cutting this 
cake would take place ! At the time this labor was under- 
taken, our land had not even the shadow of the coming 
eclipse resting over it. All the enjoyment of this rare 
treat was no doubt on our side, still we could spare our 
sympathies to the gallant but unfortunate fellow. 

It would frequently suggest itself during our cruise in 
these latitudes why these skippers so readily hove-to at 
the suggestion of a rifle-shell, and allowed themselves to 
be boarded, the sea running high at the time, making the 
casting loose of a gun dangerous in the extreme, and the 
lowering of a boat hazardous, the boarding of the enemy 
more so. Nothing was more practical than to refuse our 
commands, take our desultory and uncertain fire, and 
await night and fortune, in the way of a friendly rain- 
storm shutting in, when escape would be certain. Noth- 
ing was wanting to make it thoroughly practical and 
feasible but courage. It must have been ignorance of our 
comparative helplessness to act in a strong gale that 
guided these commanders. Surely coolness and courage 
are qualities not wanting in our average American skipper. 

The Elisha Dunbar was boarded and fired in a gale of 
wind, and, had her captain refused our blank cartridge or 
shot, could easily have made his escape, the gale increas- 
ing each moment, and rendering it most dangerous to cast 
loose a gun, and impossible to do execution with it in so 
heavy a sea. But her captain seemed to have lost his 
head, clewing up and heaving-to at the bid of our blank 
cartridge. The burning ship was a sublime spectacle — the 
flames leaping in mad play from spar to spar ; her sails, 
unfurled, burning from the yards, and flying in huge frag- 
ments to leeward ; while the lightning, darting from the 
angry dark clouds, seemed to mock the doomed ship in 
her misfortune. Her masts swayed and went by the 



32 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

board, and her hull, rocking on the seas and stagger- 
ing like a drunken man, finally lurched to leeward and 
disappeared beneath the wild waves. 

We have been but little inconvenienced with the crews 
of these prizes so far, having the land close aboard all 
the time, so that we could run in under the lee and land 
them in their own boats. The pyrotechnic displays must 
have kept the islanders in constant excitement. For days 
together the heavens were lit up with these fierce bon- 
fires. The whaler makes a grand blaze. I have no doubt, 
aside from the captains of the destroyed whalers who in 
most cases are part owners, the men were well pleased 
with the adventure. They were given their boats, whaling- 
gear, provisions, and traps, and indeed were allowed to help 
themselves to about whatever they fancied. We found no 
marked cases of excessive modesty on their part. The 
boats without exception were loaded, gunwales down to 
the water. These men, having their entire expenses paid 
by the United States Government to their respective 
homes, through their consul, were no doubt rather bene- 
fited by the introduction to the Alabama. We have by this 
time greatly increased the population of the islands, and to 
the decided gain of the latter ; for unlike the mass of the 
immigrants to our own land, they have been put on shore 
with, in the estimation of these islanders, untold wealth. 
Doubtless a glimpse on shore after the landing of this 
horde would have furnished an interesting chapter. To 
this day, that ubiquitous individual, " the oldest inhab- 
itant," causes the eyes of the rising generation to start 
with wonder as he dilates on the story of the raid of 
the Alabama, the army of people put on shore, and the 
good bargains had with the strangers. Our prizes had 
also furnished us with every requisite for the comfort and 
health of both officers and crew. Whalers are the best 
provided in all particulars of any class of vessels, their 



OFF FOR NEWFOUNDLAND BANKS 33 

cruises being of long duration, and generally in parts of 
the world but little frequented. Our paymaster had laid 
in a carefully selected assortment of clothing, provisions, 
small stores, etc., and the writer will never forget (being 
a philosopher of the weed) a large lot of Virginia smoking 
and chewing tobaccos. The value of this " find " can only 
be fully appreciated by a fellow who has been without it 
for a long time. It is an expensive article at best in 
England, and the war had made it more scarce, hence 
a very limited supply had been included in our ship-stores 
at Liverpool. Jack for the rest of the cruise always had 
his cheek and pipe well filled. The only articles saved 
from a prize besides those before enumerated, are the flag 
of the vessel and her chronometers. The flags were con- 
signed to the safe-keeping of the signal quartermaster, 
though the sailing-master was held officially responsible 
for them. The chronometers were assigned a place in the 
cabin, under the immediate eye of the captain, but under 
the care and in the keeping of the navigating officer. 
This duty devolved upon the writer ; and as it was 
Semmes's orders they be wound up each day, a process 
necessary to their good order, it was already quite a task. 
We had about fifteen of them, requiring half an hour to 
wind up, with the prospect of a steady all-day job at it in 
the near future, at the rate we were burning vessels. We 
had on hand at the end of the cruise, and landed at Cher- 
bourg, seventy-five chronometers ; and it need not be added 
the winding-up business soon came to an end, time be- 
ing too valuable for expenditure on so many recording 
angels. The reason for saving these instruments was 
their portability as compared with their value. 

It was highly amusing to note the inborn talent and 
taste of the genuine Down-easter for a smart bargain. No 
sooner had the captures commenced than our Yankee 
skippers were concocting schemes to get to windward of 



34 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Semmes. Without the shadow of a doubt as to the 
legality of the seizure of the foregoing vessels, some of 
the captains had the bold assurance to propose bonding 
their vessels, suggesting as an inducement that the bonded 
value would no doubt exceed that allowed by the Court of 
Condemnation. But this proposal did not work. Semmes 
no doubt considered the ''bird in the hand." We have 
been thirty-seven days in commission, most of the time 
weather moderate and suitable for the work. The last 
few days, however, have been ugly, reminding us that the 
season of storms is about on us. Now we are on our way 
to the Banks of Newfoundland, having effectually put a 
quietus on the whaling-fleet. A great change has taken 
place in the appearance and discipline of our crew — the 
effects of the last shore debauch having worn out of their 
systems, replaced by bright eyes and ruddy complexions, 
the consequence of regular habits, hard work, and sub- 
stantial rations. 

We may safely say now we have a man-of-war under 
us ; the men, from constant practice manoeuvring about 
prizes, handling their vessel like a toy, and the faithful 
exercise of the gun-crews at quarters, by the lieutenants 
and petty officers, has taught them to flirt the battery in 
and out with most gratifying alacrity. But one chance 
has been afforded them thus far for exercise at great 
guns with shot and shell at a prize-vessel, and this was 
creditable for an introductory. We have also added to 
our crew somewhat since hunting among the whalers. 
We have secured fourteen additional men, and have now 
a crew of ninety-nine men or one hundred and twenty- 
five officers and men all told. We can meet the enemy 
now with a fair chance of success. The reader may 
desire to know something about the morale of men so 
recently recruited from the enemy. Jack is a queer fel- 
low, of a roving, restless disposition, fond of excitement 



SEVERE EXPERIENCE 35 

and adventure, and loves the new ship and the new sweet- 
heart best. So seeing this natty, trim, and saucy rover of 
the seas, apparently having a good time of it, he falls head 
over heels in love with her, and presenting himself at the 
capstan, desires through the executive officer, a few words 
with our skipper. The interview proving mutually satis- 
factory, our hero signs the articles, and presto ! from 
being a prisoner in the lee scuppers, has the privilege 
and comfort of sampling the Alabama's " Old Jamaica." 
This is the way the complement of the cruiser was kept 
up during the cruise, the places of those left behind in 
port being supplied from fresh captures. We will do our 
crew the credit to say of them we do not believe they 
actually deserted, in many cases, but were on shore hid 
away in some rum-hole or dance-house, stupid from liquor, 
and in ignorance that their ship was obliged to put to sea 
upon the expiration of the time allowed her in port. We 
may further add that Semmes would never ship from the 
captured vessels any seamen of North American nativity, 
and was most searching in his inquiries as to their place of 
birth. Among the prisoners shipping on the Alabama 
during the whaling-raid off the Azores, we will call your 
attention to little David H. White. He became quite a 
marked character on our vessel. Dave was a Delaware 
slave, a boy about seventeen or eighteen years old ; and 
wanting in the ward-room mess of our ship an efficient 
waiter-boy, the lot fell to Dave. He was not only willing 
but anxious to ship. The natural instincts of the lad told 
him we would be his friends. He knew Southern gentle- 
men on sight. Dave became a great favorite with the 
officers, his willing, obliging manners, cheerful disposition, 
and untiring attention winning for him the affection of not 
only the officers, but of the entire ship's company. Poor 
Dave ! he was drowned in the engagement off Cherbourg. 
It was his privilege to go on shore with the ward-room 



36 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

steward to market ; and on all occasions the American 
consul or his satellites would use all their eloquence to 
persuade Dave to desert his ship, reminding him of his 
present condition of slavery and the chance presented of 
throwing off his shackles, but Dave remained loyal in face 
of all temptation. 

We are on the Banks of Newfoundland, in the Gulf 
Stream, as indicated by the temperature of the water, and 
directly in the track of vessels to and from Europe. This 
was one of the most trying portions of our cruise, danger- 
ous beyond measure, hove-to or under very short sail all 
the time. We have not only the elements to contend with 
at this most stormy period of the year, but the hourly 
danger of being run down by some swift passing steamer 
or grain-carrier, the nights being unusually dark, and the 
fogs thick enough to cut with a knife. We have also the 
danger of swamping when boarding vessels in heavy seas. 
Some of our officers had already had experience in this 
line in the last two captures, and did not look forward 
with a great deal of relish to the prospect ahead. Indeed, 
the cruise of our ship from this time forward to the day 
her prow was turned southward, was attended with as 
much hardship as ever fell to the lot of sailormen. We 
were constantly boarding vessels, the weather at all times 
vicious, often unable to remove anything from the prizes 
but the crews themselves, and this attended with the great- 
est possible risk of life. Still our captain and executive 
were incessant in their advice and caution, and through 
their watchful care we were enabled to finish up this raid 
on the grain-fleet without the loss of one soul. The plan 
of boarding vessels was very simple. The Alabama would 
luff to windward of the prize, allowing the boarding-officer 
to pull down to her before the wind. After seeing him 
safe alongside, our vessel would wear ship and take a posi- 
tion to leeward, thus allowing our boat to return in the 





Lieutenant Richard F. Armstrong 



GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE NEW SHIP 2)7 

same way. The cruise in this latitude was one constant 
succession of storms and boarding of vessels ; and, as can 
well be imagined, both officers and crew were well nigh 
exhausted after a few weeks of such work. 

We are now beginning to realize the hardships of our 
cruise ; and anything but a boon would it be to be able to 
pierce the future, and contemplate the two years of con- 
stant work of this character ahead of us. You have but 
just left the deck after a four-hour watch in villanous 
weather, perhaps working ship during the whole of it after 
some sail, and have begun to appreciate the warmth of 
your blankets, when the quartermaster flashes a bull's-eye 
lantern in your face, and you are instanter wide awake, to 
hear the cheerful intelligence you are wanted on deck at 
once, to board a vessel just hove-to. You have ample 
time while bundling into your pea-jacket to anticipate the 
weather you are to make the trip in, as oftentimes your 
boots, floating about on the ward-room deck, give the hint 
that you are not loafing around the tropics at present. If 
your wishes and inclinations could have full effect, the 
quartermaster would be in a most unenviable place. A 
more unwished for visitor, or a more thankless job than 
his, does not exist on the Alabama. But as Jack says, 
" We've shipped for it," are " in for it," so must take it fair 
or foul. One redeeming feature displayed itself in the 
wind-up ; it proved to be healthy. So the end justified the 
means. We were a lot of lightwood knots at the end of 
the cruise. 

We have reached the I 5th of October, and have since 
the last report captured the following seven vessels : 
Brilliant, Wave Crest, Dunkirk, Manchester, Lamplighter, 
Emily Farnum, and Tonawanda. The last two released 
on ransom-bond, one protected by neutral cargo, the other 
as cartel for the large number of prisoners captured on 
above vessels. On the Dunkirk we found a deserter from 



38 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

the Sumter, George Forrest, seaman, who was tried by 
court-martial, and later on landed in irons and dismissed 
the service at Blanquilla, an island in the Carribean Sea 
(Nov. 26, 1862). The penalty attached to his crime is 
death, but he had fallen into merciful hands. Lucky fel- 
low ! He was tried by a court composed of his old officers 
of the Sumter. Perhaps the recollections of common dan- 
gers and vicissitudes softened the hearts of his shipmates. 
P'orrest joined an American fishing-vessel found anchored 
off the island, and which we could not make a prize of, 
she being within Venezuelian territory. It is to the credit 
of S'emmes that he was at all times most punctilious in 
his respect for international law, as witnessed by his nu- 
merous decisions growing out of the capture of Northern 
vessels with quasi-neutral cargoes. Semraes always gave 
the benefit of the doubt in favor of the cargo, and re- 
leased the ship under ransom-bond. The reader will no- 
tice the large number of vessels thus released by us as 
bearing out this statement. 



A STERN CHASE 39 



CHAPTER IV 

A STERN CHASE J ON NEWFOUNDLAND BANKS J THE CY- 
CLONE J OFF NEW YORK ; SOUTHWARD HO ! A NEW 
MAIN-YARD J MARTINIQUE ; ESCAPE FROM THE CRUISER 
SAN JACINTO J THE RUN TO BLANQUILLA ; CRUISING 
AFTER THE CALIFORNIA TREASURE STEAMER J CAP- 
TURE OF THE ARIEL. 

The capture of the brig Dunkirk was under beautiful 
conditions. The moon at near full, the chase a long and 
exciting one, with a strong breeze, both vessels going free, 
studdingsails alow and aloft, fairly rushing before the ris- 
ing gale. The chase was well in view, thanks to the 
bright night. She proved to be a very fast sailer ; but, 
gaining on her slowly, we felt assured of final success, ac- 
cident excepted, without use of steam. Towards morning, 
having the chase well in hand, and wishing to drop the 
curtain on the scene, berth prisoners, and be ready for 
morning deck-cleaning, " quarters," and inspection, we 
sent a " thirty-two persuader " after her. So rapidly 
did she respond and luff up, foretopsail to the mast, that 
our rapid headway rushed us far to the leeward of her. 
The breeze was now a sharp gale, as we hauled on a wind, 
taking in all sail to topsails, and hove our maintopsail aback. 
Semmes had been up all night, legs astraddle the ham- 
mock-nettings, night-glasses in hand, and nursing his grat- 
ification at the business-like way in which the chase 
carried sail, endangering our spars to follow suit. The 
officer of the deck and men were worn out with trimming 
sail to the shifts of breeze. 



40 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

However, the meeting between the two skippers turned 
out a pleasant one, the fine sailing qualities displayed by 
our ship keeping Semmes in a good humor no doubt. 
He opened the conversation in a facetious vein, recently 
adopted, and which he seemed to nurse as a pretty good 
"get off." "Say, Captain, I should judge from the 
trouble you have put myself and lads to, you must have 
forgotten (canvas failing) my little ' teakettle ' below." 
The old man rarely displayed temper, except when tangled 
ownership of cargo cloud ship's papers, and set him over- 
hauling his law library for " precedents." The skipper 
might look out for a blast, did Semmes in his search un- 
earth a trick or subterfuge in " certificates." Then, there's 
many a "d — n your eyes." The weather from the Dun- 
kirk's capture onward was unsettled, moderate gales with 
but little intervening comfort of smooth sea. We had one 
day some strange visitors — a flock of curlew, blown off 
from land, settled in our port quarter-boat, wing-weary and 
starved. We captured them without an effort at escape. 
So poor in flesh were they as to offer no inducement to our 
steward. He declined upon inspection converting them 
into pot-pie. They must have been many days at sea. 
Our sympathies prompt us rather than our stomachs, the 
latter cutting no figure in it ; so after refreshing them with 
fresh water and such suitable food as we had to offer, we 
launched them on the air, to wing their way westward. 
We cannot say if they were Yankees or Johnny Rebs. 
Jack was pleased. His superstition as to harming birds 
is a strong feeling. 

We are still on the Banks, the weather for the past few 
days villanous. If some good bird of that flock said to 
roost aloft and look out for poor Jack, had by his presence 
for the past week given us the warning, we undoubtedly 
should have put up our helm, and under steam dodged the 
cyclone we are now on the edge of. The barometer has 



THE CYCLONE 4 1 

fallen to a point indicating, not simply a severe storm 
such as heaves up the Atlantic each few days of this 
season, but a veritable cyclone, that phenomenon of the 
Western hemisphere all sailors not only dread, but are ap- 
palled at. From its fearful vortex, should it be reached, 
not many vessels escape, and permit the witnesses to pic- 
ture to owners and friends its awful sublimity. The ship 
was put under very low sail, close-reefed topsails, fore- 
staysail, and the main storm-trysail gotten up and bent. 
All light yards were sent on deck, the quarter-boats swung 
in on their davits and secured, life-lines rove, the hatches 
battened down. All hands ordered on deck, and all fires 
put out but the binnacle light. The wind quickly in- 
creased to a hurricane. Men had been sent aloft, and the 
topsails furled and extra gaskets passed around the sails. 
Delayed until the storm struck, it would have been mad- 
ness, if not murder, to have ordered the topmen aloft. 
Still the blast increased, howling as if ten thousand 
demons had been loosed from Hades. Away goes the 
mainyard parted in the slings, and in a twinkling the 
main- and maintopsails fly to leeward, torn from the gas- 
kets and into shreds. In the meantime, the fore-staysail 
has been blown to ribbons, and the ship lies to under only 
the main-storm-trysail, close-reefed, and not much larger 
than a lady's shawl. It soon went, and we were under bare 
poles. To convey an idea of the force of the wind would 
beggar language. Its fury was so great that no sea could 
get up, the ocean surface having the appearance rather of a 
mill-stream. The air was white with " spoon-drift," giving 
the appearance of a heavy snowstorm. The officers and 
men were cowering under the weather bulwarks, or lashed 
at important stations. The wheel doubly manned, and in 
spite of this precaution it at one time, during the violent 
laboring of the vessel, got away from control, and, with a 
whirl, threw a man completely over it to leeward. For 



42 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

two hours this mad play of the ocean devils continued. 
The dark-green clouds nearly met the water, twisting and 
squirming between each other like snakes or loathsome 
reptiles as the whirlwinds direct them in their play. In the 
meantime, our gallant boat was behaving nobly. Though 
pressed down by the force of the tempest so that her lee 
guns were quite hid by the water, and the lee quarter-boat 
twisted from the davits and floating alongside, she lay 
still and comfortably, but little sea boarding, though the 
deck was wet by the rain and spray. She was working in 
her deck seams from the fearful strain, but otherwise dem- 
onstrating that we had a gallant seaboat under us. She 
was making but little water in her hold. One of the 
curiosities preserved, a souvenir of the cyclone, was the 
maintopsail-sheet, an iron chain of about two inches 
diameter, which was blown out to leeward as though a 
ship's pennant ; the force of the wind whipping half-turns 
in it, and gradually tying it up into a solid mass. It was 
literally welded to such a degree as to require the use of 
tools in straightening it out. As stated already, we had 
now been two hours exposed to the fearful sledge-ham- 
mering of the wind, when suddenly, in a twinkling, it died 
away dead calm. Think not we are to be let off now ; it 
is only a pause — a consultation, as it were, of the elements 
for our destruction. We are in that dreadful " vortex." 
Our ship is now exposed to another danger. The re- 
moval of the pressure of the wind has allowed the sea 
to get up, and we are wallowing in it, the water swash- 
ing aboard, first in one gangway and then the other. 
It is all one can do to hold on to the bulwarks. The seas 
are mounting to appalling heights, and the roll of our ship 
threatens to jerk the masts out of her ; but they are of 
good Georgia pine, and bend to the strain like willow- 
branches. The barometer has been noted, and found to be 
more than one inch higher. Soon we see and hear the 



THE CYCLOXE 43 

dread storm approaching again on the water, sounding in 
the distance like far-away thunder. The heavens seem, if 
anything, more threatening than before. Butt-end first it 
strikes us, screeching and howling as though the air was 
filled with countless shot and shell in passage. The gal- 
lant boat again bows to its command, and with lee guns 
under water seems to fairly struggle for breath and life, 
her timbers groaning and creaking as though suffering 
dying agonies. The clouds are lower than the mast- 
heads, and drawn into narrow ribbons of dark-green color, 
whose writhing again makes the spectacle appalling. The 
spoon-drift nearly takes the breath away, the only relief 
being in burying the head in hands, and turning the back 
to the blast. Two hours more we hang between life and 
" Davy Jones's locker," when the storm breaks, though not 
so suddenly as when we entered the vortex, and once again 
our ship is staggering among the seas, jolting and butting 
against each other like sheep driven along a strange road. 
The barometer is again noted, and found to be rising rap- 
idly. Sail is made to steady ship in the fearful sea, 
though there is but little wind to fill them. We have got 
a breathing-spell, and time to look about us. Such a 
scene of wreck and confusion ! We can promise our boat- 
swain, gunner, sailmaker, and carpenter lots of business 
for some days to come. For a week or so we have dirty, 
unsettled weather, the effects of the late cyclone ; and the 
ship is kept under close canvas, jogging in towards the 
enemy's coast. Meantime we capture the Lafayette, 
Lauretta, Crenshaw, and Baron de Castile, placing a ran- 
som-bond on the latter, and transferring the crews of the 
prizes. None of these latter prizes had felt the cyclone, 
though captured just after it had left us. 

We have now nearly completed the second act of the 
drama, namely, the destruction and demoralization of 
the " grain-fleet ; " for not much of anything but cereals 



44 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

and provisions are seeking the European markets ! King 
cotton is in prison, if we may except the puny efforts of 
the venturesome English blockade-runners to release him. 
We have added this grain industry to the North Atlantic 
whaling-interests, among the things that were, and we shall 
soon up helm and away to a new field of devastation and 
destruction. Strange, so far not a protest in the way of a 
man-of-war has crossed our vision, not so much a wonder 
just in the latitudes of storm and ugly seas, but that we 
did not exchange broadsides with our enemy's cruiser off 
the Western Islands. We had fully looked for it in these 
calm waters. Still it is not too late, for we are drawing 
near the enemy's coast for our last raid before leaving for 
the West Indies. One would suppose the Alabama just 
now to be full of business, being in the track of coastv/ise 
trade ; but not so. Cause and effect are factors potent at 
sea as well as on land ; trade is prostrated, no customers 
but the government, and we shall have poor luck board- 
ing many vessels, but all foreign. 

How sensitive the pocket nerve ! The Alabama has 
been but two months on her mission of destruction, and 
yet the effects of her exploits are strikingly apparent ; for 
we fail to make a single capture on this coast-raid — the 
trip is barren of results. We had nursed a fond hope of 
overhauling a troop-ship bound South, but it was not to be. 

We are now near the coast just off New York, and are 
braced up by some fresh provisions from a bonded vessel, 
and also have the pleasure of late news from our strug- 
gling armies. The New York newspapers of two days 
previous are before us. All is excitement in Yankee-land 
over the depredations of the " pirate ; " and if threats are 
to annihilate us, we are doomed. But we have (thanks to 
our enemy who always posts us) the number and destina- 
tion of our pursuers. It is time now to make a double 
(rabbit fashion), for these parts will soon be too hot for 




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SOUTHWARD HO! 45 

comfort. It was a strange thing that the enemy's plan 
of pursuit was to look for us where last reported instead 
of studying the future probabilities. We are now bound to 
the West Indies. It would seem quite natural that the 
Alabama would turn her head in this direction after hav- 
ing stampeded the European grain-fleet, and that we should 
find the West India Islands swarming with the enemy's 
gunboats — but we shall see. 

Our vessel is once more shipshape, the damage of the 
late storms repaired, and we are standing south with the 
weather much improved. We are again rather out of 
the track of vessels, though we have boarded a number of 
sail proving to be neutral, and have been rewarded by the 
capture of the Levi Starbuck, whaler, outward bound. 
She proved a lawful prize, and was fired. Our next prize 
was the T. B. Wales, a splendid India clipper from Cal- 
cutta for Boston. This ship proved to be one of the most 
valuable, besides recruiting our crew to the extent of 
eleven first-class seamen. 

The mainyard of the prize, upon measurement, was 
found to be of the same dimensions as ours, which was 
crippled in the cyclone, and which had been " fished " for 
temporary use. It was brought on board and slung in- 
stead of our wounded one. Our young officers have now 
a lucky chance for improving themselves in one line of 
their profession. Boatswain Mecaskey and carpenter Rob- 
inson are hard at work fitting the new mainyard, and many 
a revelation in spun yarn and knots will break upon their 
visions ; and the interest in the coming change of spars, 
the modus operandi of sending down the crippled one, and 
crossing the new one, forms the current topic of conversa- 
tion at mess-table and on watch ; and just now our active 
boatswain is by all odds the most important character in 
the ship, not excepting scout Evans. None of these mid- 
dies have the faintest idea how it is to be done, yet each 



46 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

has a commiserative look on his countenance for his brother 
middy's nautical ignorance. It was a case where silence 
is golden with them. But Mecaskey will get it there. 

We have now a crew of one hundred and ten men and 
twenty-six officers, or about fourteen short of a full com- 
plement. On the Wales we found, as passengers, an ex- 
United States consul with his wife and family. Among 
the effects of the consul's good wife were a number of 
very handsome, elaborately carved, ebony chairs. She was 
much distressed upon learning they would have to be 
consigned to the deep, owing to lack of room on a man- 
of-war. Her lady-like resignation, however, to the inevi- 
table was very sweet. It has always dwelt in the memory 
of the writer ; but such is cruel war — no respecter 
of persons. I trust she bears us no ill-will. It was the 
most unpleasant part of our boarding-duty, the transfer of 
lady passengers to our ship. Not only the danger and 
discomfort, but the awkward position forced upon them 
while our guests in the ward-room. We always associate 
timidity with the ladies, but we must say it was not our 
experience on the Alabama. There was never an instance 
of apparent fear on their part in all our transfers at sea ; 
and frequently the weather was such as to drench them 
thoroughly in the passage to us, and requiring the use of 
whip-tackle and buckets to sling them over our side. We 
are now running down for the Island of Martinique, where 
we expect to meet our transport, the Agrippina, which the 
reader will remember was the custodian of the Alabama's 
armament and stores at Terceira. On the 18th of Novem- 
ber we are off the port of Fort de France ; and we find 
the Agrippina, laden with coal for us, lying at her anchor. 
After communicating with the governor and receiving per- 
mission, our prisoners of the T. B. Wales are landed, and 
we bid good-by to the consul and his family who had been 
with us nine days. Our sailor-readers are the ones to 



ESCAPE FROM THE CRUISER SAN JACINTO 47 

fully appreciate the longing that comes over a fellow for 
fresh grub, after being on "salt horse" for many months. 
With the exception of one square meal of fresh food, we 
had been on ship's-rations since leaving Terceira. Our 
ward-room steward, Parkinson, has carte blanclic to supply 
the table. To say we breakfast, dine, and sup does not 
express it. It is eat all the time, fruits of all kinds be- 
tween meals not counting. The crew, too, seem to be 
having a good time generally, but they have somehow 
managed to smuggle on board quite a lot of the " Oh 
be joyful." The mainbrace is spliced so often that soon 
our lads forget who commands the Alabama. Matters get- 
ting serious, the beat to quarters is given ; they recognize 
the sound, and know they must go there, come what will 
or whatever their state, and Jack drunk and Jack sober 
answer to their names. Such the effect of discipline. 
The more mutinous ones are put in irons, the rest sent 
to their hammocks to sleep their drunk off. Poor Jack ! 
he is in sense of responsibility a mere child, and with 
the disadvantage of neglect in early training. The Agrip- 
pina has been a number of days in port, quite long 
enough for the enemy, knowing her relations to us, to 
put in an appearance ; so she is ordered at once to the 
Island of Blanquilla, off the coast of Venezuela, where we 
can join her and coal ship. The wisdom of this appears 
the next morning. We are greeted with our first sight 
of one of the enemy's cruisers. The steam frigate San 
Jacinto lay on and off the mouth of the harbor; and judg- 
ing from the extensive preparations she was making for 
battle, she must have had most exaggerated reports of 
our strength. All day her men were aloft, stoppering 
sheets, slinging yards, as if expecting a desperate fight. 
Our coal-ship was off, and well on her way to our rendez- 
vous, and this matter settled we cared nothing for the 
San Jacinto. We could steam around her. At this port 



48 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

we were rather the victims of inordinate curiosity than 
the recipients of hospitality ; for our decks were crowded 
with a promiscuous and impertinent lot of loungers, and 
a few officials asking no questions of our officers and 
crew, but rather disposed to pry out their own conclu- 
sions. We were inclined to interpret our lukewarm and 
rude reception as the reflection of instructions from the 
French capital. The next night, rain and darkness favor- 
ing, we got under way, passed out at the southern chan- 
nel, and saw nothing of the enemy. We afterwards heard 
she was at the other channel. There was a crestfallen 
set on the San Jacinto probably, when it was found out at 
dawn that we had given them the slip. 

We are now off, and on our way to Blanquilla to join 
our old friend Capt. McQueen and his gallant barque. 
To-day finds the ship's-company busy putting things to 
rights. Jack moves along with a listless roll ; he feels 
dull, and disinclined for the routine of duty. The brig 
has been cleared of the delinquents ; for Semmes is a 
kind and merciful superior, understanding the disposition 
of the sailor thoroughly, and ready to let by-gones be by- 
gones. And really we have as efficient and happy a crew 
as could be picked up under most favorable circumstances. 
They are able, willing, obedient, and cheerful, and attached 
to their ship by a feeling akin to idolatry. Amusements 
are allowed and encouraged. When free from duty the 
evenings are spent on the forward deck ; and song and 
dance, improvised plays, yarn-spinning, etc., have their 
turn. In this latter accomplishment Jack has no superior, 
if an equal. You have only to let off your story first, and 
if he does not land you in the shade — well ! you have 
evolved a pretty tough one. The young officers of the ship, 
with a view of passing the off hours pleasantly, formed 
a glee club ; and as we had some charming voices among 
them, it was a real treat to both ward-room and forecastle. 



THE RUN TO BLANQUILLA 49 

Weather permitting, and no vessels to be boarded, at the 
approach of evening the audience gathers ; the older offi- 
cers occupy the " private boxes " (to wit, campstools), the 
crew, the "gallery" (topgallant-forecastle); and cigars and 
pipes being lighted by all who list, the programme of the 
evening is in order. Songs sentimental, songs nautical, 
and, last but not least, songs national, delight the ears 
and hearts of all. But it is eight bells (eight p.m.), and 
we must break up this delightful party. The boatswain's 
mate has piped " all the starboard watch ; " and while the 
lads of above are to watch and ward over us, the other is 
to " turn in " to hammocks, and prepare for their turn. 
The watch is mustered and set, the captain has passed his 
orders for the night to the officer of the deck, directed 
what sail to put the ship under, and returned to his cabin, 
no doubt to hatch out some plan for future tricks on the 
enemy. The " lookouts " have been stationed, the re- 
mainder of the watch, pea-jackets under head, lying down 
snug under the bulwarks. The quarter-master stands by 
the wheel " conning " the helmsman. The officer of the 
deck, stepping up to the wheel, passes the order just re- 
ceived from the captain, " keep her N. N. E.," or " full and 
by," as the case may be, then stepping to the weather- 
quarter mounts the "horse-block," trumpet and night- 
glasses in hand, on the lookout for sails and weather. 
Now should the wind be light, the silence is deathlike, 

" And all the air a solemn stillness holds." 

Arriving duly at Blanquilla, we found our transport at 
anchor, and also the American whaling-schooner Northern 
Light which latter we simply detained until we were ready 
for sea lest she might report us. There was little of in- 
terest, you may imagine, at this point, outside of fishing. 
This we indulged in to some extent, both with line trolling 
and the " grains," and turned over a few turtle for the 



50 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

messes. We found men on the island from the mainland 
of Venezuela, who had cultivated the banana to some ex- 
tent, it being their principal food, taking the place of bread 

— and by the way a most excellent substitute. Our men 
on their pleasure excursions had helped themselves to the 
fruit rather too bountifully, leaving the natives on rather 
short rations. Complaining to Semmes, the latter paid the 
bill with a plentiful supply of ship's-rations, and the swap 
was most satisfactory to our islanders. We found here in 
great abundance the iguana, a species of lizard, much es- 
teemed by the South Americans as an article of food ; but 
though we captured quite a number we did not venture to 
test its toothsomeness, taking the natives' assurance as 
to its worth as a food product. It was sport to catch them, 
the modus being to creep up as they lay motionless in the 
bushes, and lasso them with a long grass with a snood on 
the end. The reptiles are very watchful and wary. Our 
young officers are having lots of fun at the expense of our 
temporary prisoner — the captain of the Yankee schooner. 
He has become quite sociable since receiving assurance 
from Semmes that his little property will not be consigned 
to the flames, and visits our ship daily during spare hours. 
One fellow will say to him, " Say, Cap, did old Beeswax 
really tell you he should not burn your schooner ? " 

— " Why, yes ; of course he said so." — " It may be all in 
good faith, Cap," sighs the middy, as he shakes his head, 
" but it's very like a joke of the old man ; " and the 
skipper is again on the " ragged edge," and the young- 
ster watching the anxious countenance is correspondingly 
happy. 

Having coaled ship, the Agrippina is despatched to the 
Areas Islands, in the Gulf of Mexico, there to await our 
arrival, and fill our bunkers with the remainder of her 
cargo. Bidding Capt. McQueen bon voyage, we are now 
on our way to the east end of Cuba, our object being to 



THE CALIFORNIA TREASURE-STEAMER 5 1 

intercept the California mail-steamer, and handle a mil- 
lion or so of bright California gold. We coast along the 
south side of the island of Porto Rico, pass through the 
Mona passage, and skirt the coast of San Domingo. It is 
now the 1st of December ; and though we have boarded a 
number of vessels, we have not as yet had occasion to 
" strike a match," no enemy's vessel interrupting the sight 
of the horizon. We are beginning to think the Alabama 
has been well advertised in the United States. As we 
keep our lonely mid-watches in these calm and peaceful 
seas, our thoughts naturally stray to the past when these 
latitudes were the haunts of buccaneers, and in fancy pic- 
ture them bound as we are after rich prizes. Indeed, 
aside from the legality attending our present mission, there 
are features to suggest a common occupation. There is 
no gossip or conversation, either forward or aft, that inter- 
ests but of the California treasure-steamer.- Whether 
convoyed or no ; amount of bullion ; speed we may ex- 
pect in her. And every soul on board of us has become 
a self-appointed lookout. We are having, however, beauti- 
ful weather, and enjoy 'ng from the deck the exquisite 
tropical scenery as we lazily creep along the shores of 
these historic islands. 

Meantime, although the Alabama has been loafing along 
lazily, she has kept her eyes about her ; and as a result 
she has captured and burned the barque Parker Cooke, 
provision laden. We had been for some days out of 
the latitude of a market-house, when our thoughtful pur- 
veyor put in an appearance. Evans, our factotum, whom 
we depend on for designating the nationality of a sail, 
had spent many weary and disappointing days aloft with 
the spyglass ; and though sail after sail would peep up over 
the horizon, still nothing in the way of legitimate game 
passed the vision of his glass. So the visit of the 
Cooke was most apropos. The wonderful ability of Ev- 



52 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

ans to detect the nationality of a sail made him a very 
valuable man, aside from his other qualities. He had the 
eye of Hawk Eye of Cooper fame. It was simply a waste 
of time and useless labor on the crew working ship in 
pursuit of a vessel he had pronounced foreign. He could 
not always locate the stranger as to whether English, 
French, or what not ; but that she was not " Yankee " you 
could make a book on it at large odds. Having helped 
ourselves from this prize, secured her chronometer and 
instruments, the match was applied, and the crew of the 
Parker Cooke accept unsought hospitality. Lucky fellows 
in that the weather is grand, and sleeping on deck prefer- 
able any way to a berth below. We may as well state 
here that all our prisoners were housed on deck from ne- 
cessity, the berth-deck being crowded by our own men. 
But we made them as comfortable as we could under the 
circumstances, spreading awnings and tarpaulins over them 
in stormy weather, and in every way possible provided for 
their comfort. They were allowed full rations (less the 
spirit part), and their own cooks had the range of the 
galley in preparing their food to their taste. Indeed, when 
it is considered that our men had watch to keep and they 
none, they were better off for comfort than ourselves. We 
mention these facts as the prisoners, in some cases, 
reported to the Northern press cruel treatment on our 
part. 

On every boarding occasion it was curious to note the 
wants that would suggest themselves to those of the 
officers whose duties never took them on board prizes. 
The commissions were as numerous as used to bother the 
head of a family, before railroads came along, going to a 
market-town. One would want a pocket-knife, another a 
pipe, some light reading-matter, anything and everything 
really but bonnets or ribbons. On one occasion a fellow 
wanted a warming-pan, if the stewardess had such a thing. 



£% 



r 





Lieutenant Joseph D. Wilson 



THE CALIFORNIA TREASURE-STEAMER 53 

Sometimes they were made happy, sometimes the reverse. 
At least it was never the want of money that caused the 
disappointment, as is so often the case in this cold world 
of ours. Robinson Crusoe had about as much use for gold 
as we wanderers just now. Indeed, our sable pedler of 
the South could ever and anon have lightened our pockets 
of spare change with his cry of, " Oysters, oysters ! " or 
" Buy a dozen quail, sir ! " Beyond this the traps that 
might be set for our spare cash could never be sprung. 
We are experiencing the most uneventful period of our 
cruise, most barren of solid results. We are still out of the 
track of vessels ; and such as we may overhaul are likely 
to be of light tonnage, and with cargoes of small value. 
When we consider that the plans cut out for this portion 
of our cruise, viz., the capture of the California treasure- 
steamer, and the destruction or scattering of the transport 
fleet of the Banks expedition to Texas, fail to materialize, 
we can but suffer some chagrin ; still, some good comes out 
of it, for we are having a rest, and the time thus consumed 
enables the officers to become thoroughly acquainted with 
the men, to try them in experimental situations, so that, 
emergencies arising, each man could be assigned to his 
best place. 

We are out of late newspapers now, and most anxious 
to learn what is going on in Dixie, — whether Lee has 
crossed the Potomac, or the enemy is still keeping our ar- 
mies on the defensive, and eating into our vitals. The 
capture of a vessel with late papers is an event with us — 
when it happens. First, they are carried to the cabin ; and 
the skipper, assisted by his intelligent clerk, Mr. W. Breed- 
love Smith, cons them over carefully. They are looking 
for movements of the enemy's cruisers, first in importance, 
next as to how the tide of battle is flowing. This accom- 
plished and noted, the lot is sent to the ward-room mess, 
thence to the steerage, finally reaching the forecastle. The 



5 \ TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

stay in each department is brief, for the war news is about 
all 'we have time for, and Jack likes them to clean brass- 
work with. Certain sorts of bound literature fares much 
the same way ; and Jack has to appeal to his imagination 
for the thread of a story, a fragment of which has capti- 
vated his interest. 

We have entered the month of December, and are 
stretching over to the east end of Cuba, occasionally 
boarding a vessel in the night. In the daytime friend 
Evans saves us the trouble by telling us at once that the 
ships we sight are neutrals. We take no prizes. On 
Dec. 5, reaching our cruising-ground, we captured the 
schooner Union, with neutral cargo, and released her on 
bond, after transferring to her the prisoners of the Cooke. 
The next clay was Sunday, and a lovelier day is rarely 
experienced, even in this delicious climate. And the 
Alabama floats through it like a dandy arrayed for the 
eye of his best girl. The battery gets the best touches 
of gunner Cuddy's polish, and shines like patent leather. 
The decks you might pass your handkerchief over with- 
out soil, so perfect has been the work of the holystone. 
The brass-work rivals gold in its brilliancy. The crew are 
scattered about the spar-deck, their clothes-bags having 
been ordered up by the boatswain's and mates' pipe to the 
tune of, " All hands clean yourselves in white frocks and 
pants." The making of toilets proceeds apace — here a 
lad performing the tonsorial act on his chum, another 
elaborating a fancy knot for a messmate's neckwear or his 
own, with as interested and critical an audience as the 
same effort would secure among as many girls. Jack has 
all the instincts of a dude, though he is inclined to be 
more orignal in his style of elaborating his inspirations. 
On a man-of-war these have plenty of encouragement ; 
and it is absolutely required of him that he shall be in a 
shape to pass the critical inspection of the captain and 



THE CALIFORNIA TREASURE-STEAMER 55 

first "luff" at four bells (ten o'clock) on pain of having 
his grog stopped. 

The crew are at last rigged out duly in their white 
duck uniforms and sennit hats. But the glory is not to 
them, nor to the official gray and gold aft. See the older 
salts eying the messenger boys, who, in ideal creations of 
nautical skill topped off with silk-embroidered collars and 
cuffs, strut the decks like young bantams under the proud 
gaze of their sea-fathers. For time out of mind and in all 
navies has it been the custom for each youngster to have 
his proper and responsible relative of this sort, who makes 
his clothes and duly administers the ship's discipline with 
a cub of the famous ship's cat on occasion. The master- 
at-arms, under whose care the boys are supposed to rest, 
makes no scruple of delegating this duty with the rest ; 
but you may be assured that the " chicken " gets no pun- 
ishment that he has not well deserved, for no young 
mother is more jealous of the reputation of her bantling 
than is Jack. 

But now, awaiting the muster-hour, all hands are dis- 
posed about topgallant-forecastle and fore-rigging in a 
very unusual sort of way. We are on watch for the Cali- 
fornia mail-steamer with its millions of gold. Everybody 
is sure of being rich before night — not on paper, in 
promises to pay of the Confederate Congress which may 
only be redeemed at best in shin-plasters, but in hard, 
shining, substantial gold ! She is due hereabouts to-day, 
as our invaluable Yankee newspapers secured a few days 
since kindly inform us. But alas ! Again is verified the 
song of the poet, — 

" Gold, gold, shining gold, 
Hard to get and hard to hold." 

In spite of our diligence the mast-head lookout has the 
best of it as usual, and from thence comes the expected 



56 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

hail, " Sail ho! " We could have forgiven that ; but when 
in answer to the query " Where away ? " the answer came, 
" On the port beam, sir," we understood that it could not 
be the steamer we were after. Steamer she was though, 
a big side-wheeler, brig-rigged, and bound South. The 
treasure-ship would be bound the other way, and should 
have been sighted on the starboard bow. But she is our 
meat anyway. All thoughts of Sunday muster are at 
once abandoned. Taking the deck, the first lieutenant 
orders the engine fires stirred, has the propeller lowered, 
clews up and furls all sail, and steaming slowly, places the 
Alabama in a position to have the stranger pass close to 
us. We know by this time she is not a man-of-war, from 
showing too much "top-hamper," so there is no neces- 
sity for going to quarters. She approaches us very fast, 
each vessel showing United States colors. We had got- 
ten "athwart her hawse," to convey the idea we wished 
to communicate ; but either we had no signals up to this 
effect, or she was in a hurry. She sheered, and passed us 
a biscuit's throw off. Perhaps she suspected us, even un- 
der our false colors. However, we had nothing left but to 
turn in pursuit, and in this manoeuvre some distance was 
lost. By the time her stern was presented to us she was 
a quarter of a mile ahead. There being no object in con- 
cealment now, our colors were changed. The Alabama 
had not as yet gotten the full benefit of her steam, and it 
was "nip and tuck" between us, rather, if any difference, 
in favor of the enemy, who was now, we could see, doing 
her very best, her paddle-wheels turning with great ra- 
pidity, and dense smoke coming from the funnel. We 
could observe an immense crowd of passengers on her 
upper deck, principally women, interspersed with wearers 
of naval and military uniforms. Wishing to cut the mat- 
ter short, Lieut. Armstrong is ordered to clear away the 
rifle pivot-gun of his division, and give her a shot above 



CAPTURE OF THE ARIEL 57 

deck, taking care to strike her masts well above the pas- 
sengers' heads. The Alabama is now yawed ; and the sea 
being perfectly smooth, a careful sight is taken, lock- 
string pulled, and in a moment splinters can be seen 
flying from the foremast about ten or twelve feet from 
the deck. Gallant shot ! The mast is nearly cut in two, 
but holds on by the rigging. It was a great relief, you 
may be sure, to Armstrong that he had taken no life, 
particularly as the passengers were principally women and 
children. In a moment the ponderous wheels of the 
steamer cease to revolve, and she lay motionless on the 
water, completely at the mercy of the enemy. We came 
up with the prize fast enough now. Upon being boarded, 
she proved to be the California mail-boat Ariel, Capt. 
Jones, bound to the Isthmus, with a passenger-list of five 
hundred and thirty-two, mostly women and children, a 
battalion of United States marines under command of 
Capt. David Cohen, numbering, rank and file, one hun- 
dred and forty-five, and several naval officers, all bound 
to the Pacific station. Quite an army all told. But it 
would have been as well had we kept out of her way. No 
chance now for the capture of a treasure-boat, as the 
return steamer would not leave the Isthmus for New 
York until after the arrival of the Ariel, so the "cat is 
out of the bag" as to the whereabouts of the Alabama, 
and we are not to have the pleasure of counting eagLes 
and double eagles. Nor does the dilemma end here ; 
we shall have to play nurse to several hundred women 
and children for some days. The passengers cannot be 
landed on any neutral territory, international law forbid- 
ding our taking the prize into port, nor are we likely, in 
this part of the world, to capture a vessel of sufficient 
tonnage to accommodate this army of people. 

The boarding-officer having reported considerable con- 
sternation among the lady passengers, Lieut. Armstrong 



58 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

and Midshipman Sinclair were sent on board to allay 
their fears, and assure them of such treatment as South- 
ern gentlemen and officers are accustomed to render to 
ladies. Arrayed in their bright, new, gray uniforms, 
swords, and caps, they looked natty indeed. The boat was 
manned by as handsome a lot of tars as you could wish to 
see, dressed in their white duck and sennit hats. Free- 
mantle, the coxswain, was justly proud of his boat. We 
felt sure the appearance of this jaunty combination along- 
side the prize must dissipate the idea in the ladies' minds 
that we are ruthless pirates. For some time after board- 
ing the prize, it looked like a hopeless task trying to con- 
vince the passengers they would not have to walk the 
plank. Many of the ladies were in hysterics, fearing the 
worst. But it did not take our gallants long to secure 
the confidence of one of the ladies braver than the rest. 
This accomplished, one by one they came forward, and 
soon our lucky boarding-officers were enjoying the effect 
of the reaction. A perfect understanding must have been 
arrived at between the fair ones and our " rascally " lieu- 
tenant and middy, for the latter were soon minus every but- 
ton from their uniforms, not " for conduct unbecoming an 
officer and a gentleman," but as mementos of the meeting. 
We may as well state just here that in no instance during 
the entire cruise was private property of any description, 
cash or otherwise, taken from a prisoner. In many in- 
stances money in quite large quantities was found on the 
persons of prisoners, but oath that it was his personal 
property was all-sufficient with Semmes. Doubtless many 
a dollar of owners' money was denied our common prize- 
chest by false swearing, but that remained a matter be- 
tween the oath-taker and his own conscience. In the case 
of the Ariel a considerable amount of money (greenbacks) 
was found in the iron safe ; but Capt. Jones promptly de- 
clared it ship's funds, without the necessity of inquiry. This 



ESCAPE OF THE TREASURE-SHIP 59 

sum was all that was transferred to our ship from her. The 
captain and engineers of the prize are removed to our ves- 
sel, and a number of our engineers sent on board the Ariel 
in their place, to take charge of her engine. In the mean- 
time Armstrong has had the marine battalion mustered 
on the quarter-deck of the prize, and proceeds to disarm 
and parole them. This was met by a vigorous protest on 
the part of Capt. Cohen commanding, who, upon being or- 
dered to have his men stack arms, hesitated for some time, 
but finally yielded to the gentle persuasion of the prize- 
master, upon having his attention recalled to the frowning 
ports of the Alabama only a few yards removed. Many 
were the tales these lucky officers of ours had to tell after 
the bonding of the steamer and their return to their own 
ship. They had enjoyed a glorious "outing," occupying 
respectively the head and foot of the dining-table. Cham- 
pagne having been ordered up from the steward's wine- 
room, they had the audacity to propose the health of 
President Davis, which they requested should be drunk 
standing. Their request was complied with amid much 
merriment. And the saucy girls, not to be outdone, pro- 
posed the health of Mr. Lincoln, which was promptly 
drank amid hurrahs. Strange scene, reader ! But we are 
an odd race — we Americans ! sui generis. We are now 
in company with the prize, and for some days steam side 
and side, our captain hoping to fall in with a vessel to 
transfer the passengers to, but in this we are doomed to 
disappointment. No prize comes along, and we are forced 
to release the Ariel under ransom-bond of $160,000. We 
had found Capt. Jones, who was a guest with us in the 
ward-room, a modest and estimable gentleman. He had 
done all he could to save his vessel, and might have suc- 
ceeded but for the passengers, whose lives he would not 
have been justified in exposing to our fire. We will do 
him the credit to relate that he spoke in high terms of 



60 TWO YEARS OJV THE ALABAMA 

the kind treatment received at our hands upon his arrival 
home. As the two ships parted company the crew of the 
Ariel cheered, and the ladies waved their handkerchiefs. 
We fear our heroes of the boarding-party will take un- 
kindly to " salt horse " and rice, after luxuriating on roast 
turkey and oysters on the half-shell washed down with 
champagne — ■ to say nothing of those aching voids in the 
region of the heart. But a sailor is like the lamp-wicks 
they make of asbestos, — easily inflamed, never consumed. 
We ascertained afterwards that the California home- 
bound steamer took the Florida passage, convoyed by a 
man-of-war. 




Lieutenant Arthur Sinclair 



AT THE ARC AS ISLANDS 6 1 



CHAPTER V 

INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO J AT THE ARCAS ISLANDS ; 
OFF GALVESTON J THE HATTERAS FIGHT. 

The excitement of the last capture over, we allow steam 
to go down, hoist the propeller, and put the ship under sail. 
We stand along the north side of Jamaica ; and after an 
uneventful run of some ten days without so much as a 
single prize, though we have passed a few neutrals, we 
enter the Yucatan passage, and pass into the Gulf of 
Mexico. The sail through this strait was a reminder to 
such of our officers as had served on the Sumter of their 
exit here some eighteen months since. They at that time 
were fugitives from their homes. They are returning now 
to have another look at the land they love so well. On 
the 23d of December, standing in for the Areas, we made 
a sail ahead, which proved upon overhauling her to be 
our coal-transport, the barque Agrippina. She had made 
a tedious voyage from Blanquilla. We anchored together. 
The Areas are of coral formation and almost barren, only 
a few stunted bushes and cactus giving the hint of vegeta- 
tion. We were anchored in about eight fathoms, yet the 
water was so transparent the anchor could be plainly seen 
on the bottom ; and about the coral branches, fish of 
varied hue lazily swam, secure in perpendicular distance 
from all surface foes. The fish found here are similar 
to those observed by the writer some years ago in Japan. 
They are of solid colors, blue, green, purple, red, and 
others of a combination of two or more colors. We 
speared numbers of them in the lake in the centre of the 



62 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

largest of the three islands, and we caught many with lines 
and by trolling. These fish, however, do not compare in 
flavor to those of the Atlantic coast. 

A most amusing episode on one of our fishing expedi- 
tions claimed chief engineer Freeman as the hero. The 
principal island is circular in shape, with a lake in the cen- 
tre connected with the sea by a narrow channel. At high 
water the fish would pass into the lake from the sea with 
ease, but they could not return if they lingered until the 
last of the ebb tide. There was always, however, plenty 
of water inside the lake — say two and a half feet. Free- 
man was bathing, and had waded to the centre of the 
pond, about a hundred yards from the shore. A number 
of us were in the dingy spearing fish with the grains, 
when all at once we discovered a large shark swimming 
leisurely along, his dorsal fin exposed, and evidently 
gorged with food, the pond being alive with fish of all 
sizes. We at once put our worthy engineer on his guard. 
The shark was between Freeman and the boat ; so there 
was nothing to do on his part but make for the shore — 
and such fun ! I say fun, for the shark had no idea of 
attacking him. In his mad haste to reach the shore, Free- 
man first swam, and that not seeming very speedy, he would 
try wading. This was also found to be slow work, as the 
water was too deep, and so he alternated between wading 
and swimming, finding both modes most unsatisfactory un- 
der the circumstances. When the beach was gained, for 
some minutes he lay motionless for lack of breath. In 
the meantime the peals of laughter from our boats must 
have reached the ears of those on board ship. It was a 
side-splitting spectacle. By this time Michael Mars, cox- 
swain of the cutter, had made up his mind to have another 
sort of fun with the shark. Pushing the boat near, he 
jumped into the water, and quickly plunged his sheath- 
knife in the belly of the fish, giving him a fearful rip. 



AT THE ARC AS ISLANDS 63 

The shark raised a terrible commotion, slapping the water 
with his tail, and bringing his jaws together with a most 
uncomfortable snap. Mars was peremptorily ordered into 
the boat ; but his Irish blood was up, and the fight was 
continued until the shark was vanquished. He was towed 
on shore, and Jack was in high glee. Nothing so much 
pleases a sailor as despatching a " man-eater." 

We coaled from the transport, and giving the captain 
his instructions to report to Capt. Bullock at Liverpool, 
saw him off. We shipped from the Agrippina, Jan. 4, 
William Jones, seaman. Our attention is for a few days 
divided between putting the ship in order and getting all 
the fun there is to be had. The islands are the resort of 
innumerable sea-fowl, which come here to lay their eggs 
and hatch out their young. It is interesting to move up 
the " streets " between the line of nests, and observe how 
curiously the mother-bird will look up at you sideways. 
She will not leave the nest unless forced off with a club. 
At certain hours the parent-birds, alternating, go to sea for 
food for self and young. Upon our arrival we first gath- 
ered bushels of these eggs from nests, in the absence of 
the old birds ; but finding them stale in most cases, we had 
to resort to the plan of driving all the birds in a given 
space from the nests and breaking all the eggs, that on 
our return again we might find their place supplied with 
fresh-laid ones. These eggs are not delicate, and some 
kinds are even rank, yet the men ate and seemed to enjoy 
them. It was pitiable to see the old mother-birds hover 
over the heads of the crew, when driven from the nests, 
uttering their discordant cries of distress. They had no 
apparent fear of humanity, and would fly so close as to be 
easily hit with clubs. On one occasion the captain and 
myself were about to take some " sights " on shore with 
the artificial horizon to verify the chronometers. Free- 
mantle, the captain's coxswain, was pouring the quick- 



64 TWO YEARS OAT THE ALABAMA 

silver from the jug into the basin, when a sea-gull, un- 
observed at first, waddled up to us, and after first inter- 
viewing us out of the corner of his eye, coolly put his bill 
into the mercury. Lest he should capsize it, Freemantle 
pushed him gently away, but to our intense amazement he 
returned to the charge, and finally we had to handle him 
quite roughly before he would desist. The time passed 
rapidly here, one watch at a time at play, the other at 
work under our industrious and indefatigable executive. 
Our crew rapidly recuperated from the effects of arduous 
service and the monotonous sea-diet ; for if the islands 
gave us no vegetables, there was no lack of fish and fowl 
— the former in great variety and of excellent flavor, and 
turtle, curlew, plover, and sand-snipe in abundance. We 
had fine weather, and did not miss the opportunity for 
cleaning our ship's bottom by careening. 

We are ship-shape finally, and off for the coast of Texas, 
looking up Banks and his transport-fleet. But " man pro- 
poses, but God disposes." We shall, instead of scattering 
the Banks transport -fleet, find ourselves in a hornet's nest, 
and more than lucky to get out of it as well as we do. 
The fight we got on our hands might have turned out dis- 
astrously, for it was a matter of chance that the least 
powerful of the blockading-fleet came out that night to 
battle with us. 

The run up the Gulf was uneventful, giving all hands 
ample time for recreation between duties. We have an 
excellent library of standard works for use of crew as well 
as officers, and have managed to add considerably to it 
from prizes. The bustle and constant business of man- 
of-war life materially interfere with satisfactory reading. 
The writer, time and weather permitting, preferred to 
take his book aloft, and straddling the topsail-yard, and 
making the mast a rest for the back, vary the interest by 
occasionally casting his eye over the water in the hope of 



WE ENTER THE GULF OF MEXICO 6$ 

" getting to windward " of the mast-head lookout in mak- 
ing out and reporting a sail to the officer of the deck. 
In the ward-room and steerage, chess, backgammon, and 
other games are in full blast. Playing cards is positively 
prohibited. These mess-gatherings are the promoters of 
much that is entertaining, as also at times instructive, as 
when some intelligent messmate tells of his travels and 
observations, or spreads himself in the sciences. At 
times a group will be all attention to a reading, lecture, 
or "yarn," when the uncanny wail of a violin in the hands 
of an amateur, the twang of a guitar, or some other dis- 
tracting rhythmic monody, proclaims right of free speech. 
Protests, and even strong language, in this case are often 
unavailing to support the majority rule. Your musical 
bore has no conscience, and likes an audience, willing 
or unwilling, like a youngster in pinafores. A favorite 
amusement was keeping a set of books containing an ac- 
count of the owner's share of prize-money. The value of 
the manifest of each prize was of course carefully recorded, 
as was the finding of a court composed of a number of 
the commissioned officers. This record was intended as 
a memorandum or guide for the Confederate government, 
which had voted to officers and crew a sum equal to one- 
half the value of the vessels of the enemy, destroyed or 
bonded. This division of prize-money was to be made 
on a sliding scale proportional to rank, and was to the 
commander and commissioned officers, at the end of the 
cruise, a large fortune. Hence the deep interest taken 
in the book. As each vessel would be condemned and 
burned or bonded, the entry would be copied in the indi- 
vidual ledgers, each officer and man knowing his pro rata 
of the whole. So, as with the people on shore, we have 
our days of active and also of dull trade. These carefully 
kept accounts can be bought cheap now, but there is a 
melancholy satisfaction in feeling that one has once made 



66 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

a fortune. Only one of the Alabama's officers ever realized 
anything. This young gentleman transferred his interest, 
right, and title to his prize-money to a speculative London 
Hebrew for about five per cent of its face, just after the 
sinking of the Alabama. This seemed to us a reckless 
extravagance at the time, but it did not prove so. As 
the poor fellow was lost at sea soon afterward, leaving no 
heirs, it is to be hoped the fun he got out of his few thou- 
sands left no regrets to be reaped. 

Some fine fishing for the past few days, the wind being 
light and the ship under easy sail. We had good luck with 
both trolling-lines and grains. The fun was the most of 
it though, for the Areas had given us a surfeit of this sort 
of food. On the afternoon of the eleventh, the mast-head 
gave us the familiar hail, " Sail ho ! " and then promptly 
following it, " Land ho ! " The shore off Galveston is so 
flat and low that a vessel would be made sooner than the 
land. In this case the lookout reported a number of ships 
at anchor, having the appearance of men-of-war, but no 
transport-fleet. It was soon apparent that the craft were 
all steamers, and then a shell from one of them was seen 
to burst over the city. This made the case as plain to us 
as a Quakeress' bonnet. It seemed to strike all hands at 
once and in the same way, — Galveston had been retaken 
by our forces, and the enemy's fleet driven outside the 
bar. Hence the shelling of the city. 

It must not be thought that because the Alabama was 
mainly confined to the high seas by the operation of in- 
ternational law that the world and its doings were en- 
tirely shut out from her. The newspapers of the North 
were allowed an astonishing latitude in dispensing news 
of the movements of armies and fleets ; and the captured 
vessels frequently supplied us, through copies of these 
newspapers, with information of the greatest consequence, 
enabling us to avoid cruisers, and to learn of the move- 



VALUE OF YANKEE NEWSPAPERS 67 

ments of armies and transport-ships destined to points 
of attack on the Southern coast. It was information re- 
ceived in this manner that determined Semmes to attempt 
the destruction of a transport-fleet destined for the inva- 
sion of Texas through the port of Galveston, then in the 
possession of the United States forces. Gen. Banks 
fitted out this expedition, and was expected off Galveston 
about Jan. 10. Semmes, surmising that the expedition 
would not be convoyed by men-of-war, the South having 
no navy to attack it, judged that it would be an easy mat- 
ter for a smart and powerful ship of our class to destroy 
or disperse it. But it had happened in the meantime that 
Galveston was recaptured by the river gunboats supported 
by the land-forces of the Confederacy ; and this had broken 
into Gen. Banks's plans, turning his fleet by New Or- 
leans and the Red River upon Texas, and the blockade 
was resumed off the harbor. Of this we had of course no 
knowledge. 

Our situation was critical. Very soon the smoke from 
the stack of one of the steamers apprised us that she was 
getting under way, and soon she was bowling along, steer- 
ing: right for us. We had been under sail all the while. 
At once the fires are stirred, the propeller lowered, and 
the ship's head put off shore, steaming slowly. Blake 
signals the admiral as we plainly see ; and before the dark- 
ness shuts out the view, it is evident that the whole fleet 
is preparing to get under way. This to us is certainly an 
ominous sight. We must make a close, quick, yard-arm 
fight, and if successful, stand not on the order of our going, 
but go ! For to nautical experience it is well known that 
the Gulf of Mexico is a dangerous trap, with only two 
passages for escape. We could not tell what facilities the 
admiral off Galveston might have for speedily closing these 
against us. 

But it was necessary to get the enemy now approaching 



68 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

as far from the rest of the fleet as possible, and also to 
allow night to set in before engaging- him. We succeed 
in putting about fifteen miles between us and the^ fleet, 
then with canvas furled, steam by this time being suffi- 
cient, the engines are stopped, and with officers and men 
at quarters we await the result. It is now dark, the enemy 
being but indistinctly seen. Many are the conjectures as 
to his strength and class, and opinions as to whether the 
rest of the fleet is on its way out. The concensus of opin- 
ion is emphatic that what we do must be done quickly, and 
that the captain ought to lay us alongside her, if she does 
not prove too heavy. 

The enemy has now come up. We have been standing 
in shore while awaiting her, but now our head is turned off 
shore again. Then comes the hail, " What ship is that ? " — - 
" This is her Bt itamiic Majesty's steamer Petrel," is the reply. 
The two vessels are now nearly motionless, and both of 
course at quarters. Our men are wild with excitement 
and expectation. In the darkness it is impossible to make 
out her class except that she is a side-wheeler. Our crew 
have lock-strings in hand, keeping the gun trained on her, 
and awaiting the command to fire. The two vessels are 
so near that conversation in ordinary tones can be easily 
heard from one to the other. For a time the Hatteras 
people seem to be consulting. Finally they hailed again, 
" If you please, F 11 send a boat on board of you" to which 
our executive officer replied, " Certainly, we shall be pleased 
to receive your boat." The boat was soon lowered from 
the davits and began pulling toward us. All occasion for 
subterfuge being now at an end, word was immediately 
passed to the divisions that the signal to fire would be 
" Alabama." When the boat was about half-way between 
the two vessels, Lieut. Kell hailed, " This is the Confed- 
erate States steamer Alabama!" The last word had 
barely passed his lips when sky and water are lighted up 




Sailing Master Irvine S. Bulloch 



ENGAGEMENT WITH THE HATTER AS 69 

by the flash of our broadside, instantly followed as it 
seemed by that of the enemy. A running fight was now 
kept up, the Alabama fighting her starboard, and the 
Hatteras her port battery, both vessels gathering headway 
rapidly. Never did a crew handle a battery more deftly 
than ours. About six broadsides were fired by us. The 
enemy replied irregularly, and the action only lasted thir- 
teen minutes. It was evident to us from the trifling nature 
of the wounds to our hull and rigging that the Hatteras 
was being whipped. A crash amongst her machinery soon 
settled the business. Then she fired a lee gun, and we 
heard the quick, sharp hail of surrender, accompanied by 
the request that our boats be sent to her immediately, as 
she was sinking. The whole thing had passed so quickly 
that it seemed to us like a dream. Our battery was hastily 
secured, and then our boats started for her at lightning 
speed. The daily practice of our crew in handling boats 
and boarding vessels now served the enemy in good stead. 
A few strokes of the oars put us alongside, and none too 
soon. In two minutes after we cleared her sides only her 
mast-heads were showing above the water ; and in just 
nineteen minutes from the opening broadside, the officers 
and crew of the Hatteras, wounded included, were on our 
decks, and the Alabama was steaming away at her best 
speed for the Yucatan passage. This is probably one of 
the quickest naval duels on record. But it was none too 
quick for our safety ; for as we laid our course their lights 
were to be plainly seen coming up rapidly in our wake. 
But there was now no danger, for the Alabama was at that 
time more than a match in speed for any vessel in the 
admiral's fleet. By the following evening shot-plugs and 
paint had obliterated nearly all marks of the engagement 
from the Alabama. It is illustrative of the uncertainties 
attending naval engagements, that the shot of the Hatteras 
should have expended itself so entirely upon the upper 



•JO TWO YEARS OAT THE ALABAMA 

works of the Alabama where the damage would be but 
slight, while our shots with depressed guns almost inva- 
riably struck her in vital places. The two vessels were 
so close that frequently their yard-arms could have been 
locked by a turn of the helm. There was no chance for a 
shot to miss. The mortality on the Hatteras was astonish- 
ingly slight in view of the damage inflicted on the vessel. 
Only two were killed and five wounded. The wounded 
men subsequently all recovered. And it is scarcely less 
remarkable that on board the Alabama, though her bul- 
warks were riddled with shot-holes, there was but one cas- 
ualty, George Addison, carpenter's mate, receiving a slight 
wound in the cheek from a fragment of a shell. Capt. 
Blake afterwards said that his purpose had been to run 
down and board us ; but as the Alabama had the speed of 
him his programme could hardly be carried out. It must 
have been a hot place for the Hatteras's boat, between two 
fires with only twenty-five or thirty yards intervening. As 
the boat escaped, the officer in charge of her must have 
made a sharp move out of the way. Probably the mast- 
heads of the Hatteras sticking up out of the water were 
discovered by the fleet on their return from the chase, and 
anticipated the news conveyed by the escaped boat. But 
it is improbable that the name of the Hatteras's antagonist 
transpired until the news was received from Kingston. 



OUR PRISONERS OF WAR 7 1 



CHAPTER VI 

THE HATTERAS PRISONERS ON BOARD | AT KINGSTON, JA- 
MAICA ; TROUBLE WITH JACK J ADIEU TO FORT ROYAL ; 
FORAGING FOR PROVISIONS ; BAFFLING WINDS ; A CARGO 
OF WINES AND LIQUORS ] ENEMIES' SHIPS GETTING 
SCARCE J DISPOSING OF PRISONERS AT SEA ; IN THE 
BRAZILIAN HIGH ROAD ; WASHING DAYS FOR JACK. 

We are now bowling along, steam and sail, for Kingston, 
Jamaica, where it is proposed to land the officers and crew 
of the Hatteras. The weather soon after leaving the coast 
sets in squally with rain, the wind veering ahead. We let 
steam go down, and battle with it under sail. This is bad, 
as we have in prisoners a force fully equal to our own, and 
though on parole, we are anxious to land them as quickly 
as possible. The strict watch kept over them is very 
wearing to officers and men, who must sleep at all times 
on their arms. We were ten days on the passage to 
Kingston. Capt. Blake was the guest of Semmes, and 
the remainder of the officers of the Hatteras were dis- 
tributed as to rank in the ward-room and two steerages. 
We found our prisoner officers a rather jolly set ; and the 
time passed very pleasantly, barring the villanous weather. 
Porter, the Hatteras's executive officer, seemed to take quite 
a fancy to me, having known my father intimately. He 
would keep nearly all my watches with me, pacing the 
deck and talking of old times. I did everything possible 
to cheer and reassure him, giving his officers and crew full 
credit for doing all they could under the circumstances, 
having to contend against a ship much more powerful than 



J2 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

theirs, and from constant practice more efficient in han- 
dling her battery. I was amused to observe the blank 
surprise of Porter when informed that grog was only- 
served to the seamen on our vessel, the officers being posi- 
tively disallowed it. However, upon being informed that 
his officers were not included in the list, and that our cap- 
tain had plenty of it for entertaining purposes, he laugh- 
ingly said, " Well, I suppose we must play the role of 
apparent selfishness." Porter greatly admired the speed 
and seaworthy qualities of our ship, and thought she 
would cause the ship-owners of the North immense direct 
as well as indirect loss ; and he looked for bitter disap- 
pointment, if not censure, from the country, at the result 
of the late engagement, — the Hatteras not even being able 
to cripple us, — and thought it would be no enviable posi- 
tion to command any vessel sent in pursuit of us. He 
considered the Alabama the most complete ship afloat, all 
and all, for the purpose in hand. The paymaster of the 
Hatteras was most excellent company. He was my room- 
mate. I remember his first remark as he was ushered into 

our ward-room. "Well," he said, "boys, I'll be d d 

if we hadn't a cast-iron atmosphere in our engine-room ! 
I was stationed there, and shell after shell exploded until 
the air smelt of iron fragments ! I don't want any more 
of it ; I'm going home right away, and don't you stop to 
fight any more cruisers until you land me." Again, pull- 
ing some gold pieces from his pocket and shaking them 
at me, he remarked, " Say, Johnny, ain't there a sight good 
for any fellow's sore eyes ? Don't you want to handle 
some of them ? " But we had the joke on him as he after, 
wards confessed upon learning that our salaries were paid 
in "sterling." During the passage we made a sail ahead, 
and upon overhauling her she showed English colors. We 
recognized in her our transport, the Agrippina. She, like 
ourselves, had experienced head winds and rough weather. 



KINGSTON, JAMAICA 73 

Of course we kept " mum " as to any previous knowledge 
of her to our prisoners. One day, the grog being served 
out, Kell was standing near, and observing an old " barna- 
cle-back " among the prisoners, eying our men as they 
passed around the grog-tub and brought their inclined 
plane in contact with the contents of the cup, asked the 
old fellow if he would like a " tot." Touching his hat 
quickly with both hands, for he was ironed, the answer 
■ came, " Your honor — thanks." Receiving the tin measure 
from the " captain of the hold " in charge of the grog-tub, 
he slowly and carefully raised it with his teeth, and at the 
same time throwing back his head with a dexterous jerk, 
he emptied it without the spilling of a drop. Soon after 
many of the prisoners asked permission to ship with us, 
which was of course refused. The matter was kept from 
the knowledge of their officers. Such the power of grog 
over a sailor. These men were not allowed grog in United 
States service. But we must now get ready to say good- 
by to our friends of the Hatteras. We have made the 
lighthouse of Fort Royal. The 21st of January we drop 
anchor. We find several vessels of the British squadron 
on this station, — flag-ship Jason, also the Challenger and 
Greyhound, and, as we found it ever after in English 
colonies, a hearty welcome awaiting us. Civilities are 
exchanged with the governor of the island and the com- 
manding fleet-officer. Upon being apprised of the recent 
engagement, and the presence of the prisoners on our 
ship, the town was of course in a state of excitement be- 
yond description. Everything in the way of a boat that 
would float was in requisition, and the boatmen probably 
never in their experience reaped such a harvest of fares. 
They were many yards deep around our vessel, each strug- 
gling to get their passengers to the gangway. At no time 
during the cruise was our ship in such a state of confu- 
sion as during our stay at Kingston. The prisoners were 



74 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

to be landed ; and meantime our decks and officers' quar- 
ters were besieged with officials and citizens from the 
shore, besides officers from the fleet and garrison, and 
these all to be entertained. Ship-coaling, and ship's me- 
chanics engaged in repairing damages of the late fight, 
stopping shot-holes in the hull, and replacing damaged rig- 
ging. Officers with manifold duties suddenly thrust upon 
them. The most important and onerous service of all 
was that of a watch to keep, if possible, liquor out of the 
ship. Having no marine guard to call into service, we 
could only command the personal services of our lieuten- 
ant of marines, Mr. Beckett K. Howell, assisted by the 
master-at-arms. These officers kept alert, first with an 
eye on this and now on that bumboat, wherever a suspi- 
cious movement on the part of Jack or the bumboatmen 
pointed to a mutual understanding. Our ubiquitous first 
lieutenant, assisted by the officer of the deck and mid- 
shipman of the forecastle, also had an eye to the same sub- 
ject. We miss a marine guard sadly in port ; but it must 
be confessed "a soger" at sea is a fish out of water, in 
everybody's mess and nobody's watch. However, in spite 
of the most rigid espionage, some confusion is soon ob- 
served, and one by one our fellows begin to be hustled in 
irons to the "brig." But by this time the prisoners have 
been landed, and are under the protection of the United 
States consul, so that half our crew are sent ashore on 
liberty. 

The presence of a large fleet of English men-of-war 
giving a feeling of perfect security in the event of one or 
more of the enemy's cruisers putting in an appearance, 
Semmes, who felt the want of quiet and removal from the 
scene of confusion and uproar, the unavoidable condition 
of our present situation, had accepted the invitation of an 
English gentleman, a merchant of the place, to visit his 
country-seat in the mountains for a few days. Kell was 



KINGSTON, JAMAICA 75 

left in command. His position was surely anything but a 
bed of roses ; but as usual, he managed to fill it with dig- 
nity and credit. It was a trying time for us all. Cruising 
and boarding vessels we had got used to, and we knew 
pretty well what we could depend on, and what bodily and 
mental strain we should have to meet ; here the unex- 
pected beset us like the troubles of Pandora's box, and 
there was no such thing as dog-watch or watch below. 
Every man-Jack of the crew was in for a lark, and discip- 
line had to be relaxed without being quite allowed to "go 
by the run." We were beset at all hours with visitors of 
high and low degree, and the courtesies of the ship must 
not be neglected. Among the officers permission to visit 
the shore on pleasure was not even thought of. 

A serious mortification came to us in the misbehavior 
of our paymaster, Clarence R. Yonge. Visiting the shore 
on duty, he was reported to be guilty of traitorous com- 
munication with the United States consul, and of drunken 
consort with paroled seamen of the enemy. Kell at once 
sent an armed party ashore, arrested him, and kept him 
under arrest on board until Capt. Semmes's return, when 
he was at once dismissed the service, and drummed out 
of the ship. This is the only case of discipline we have 
to record as regards the officers of the Alabama, but one 
dose of this sort was surely enough. Through this man's 
influence with our crew, backed by the persuasions of the 
United States consul, we lost several valuable seamen. 
He was afterward a secret agent of the enemy's diplo- 
matic corps in London — but that has nothing to do with 
the present story. 

Before leaving Kingston, it was my good fortune to 
meet Lieut. Cardale of H. B. M. ship Greyhound, recently 
from Norfolk, Va., where he had met and been entertained 
by members of my family. This brought home news 
down to within ten days. And only those who have suf- 



j6 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

fered from this banishment — without mails — so rare in 
modern life, can realize the value of such a happening. 
In the meantime, Jack is having a good time on shore. 
Sailor-like he is hobnobbing with the liberty men from 
the British ships, as well as his late opponents of the Hat- 
teras, and supplying funds to the latter, who are " broke." 
Groups of them may be encountered at every turn of 
sailor-town, arm in arm, and in every stage of intoxication, 
from hilarity to fighting humor. When the time arrives 
to scoop them up, and give the other watch a chance at 
the sport so-called, officers in uniform with armed boats' 
crews are scouring the streets and dens. One is re- 
minded of the old problem of ferrying over the river the 
goose, the fox, and the bag of corn ; for no sooner is one 
lot delivered at the boat and another raid made up-town, 
than the prisoners break guard somehow and are up-town 
again. The writer, visiting a dance-hall after dark with 
a boat's crew, in quest of delinquents, was met at the 
threshold by a body of men from the English squadron 
backed by the lady participants in the ball, and good- 
naturedly but firmly informed that he could not come in, 
the visit being quite mal a propos. One of the ladies re- 
marked, " Say, middy, come some other time. The tickets 
are limited at this ball ; and besides, the company is se- 
lect ! " " Tell old ' Beeswax,' " said another persuasive 
maiden, " your old piratical skipper, to go to sea, burn 
some more Yankee ships, and come back. We'll give up 
the boys then, and you shall have your turn." It took 
much diplomacy to carry our point ; and it was only ac- 
complished by reasoning most earnestly with the soberer 
of the crew, and a generous amount (on my part) of treat- 
ing among the fair hosts. Returning with this party to 
the ship, it was found necessary to put some of the most 
drunken fellows in irons. And while this was going on, 
two seamen managed to call alongside a boat in which two 




Surgeon and Acting Paymaster Francis L. Gait 



JACK ON A LARK JJ 

negroes were prowling about the harbor. Taking posses- 
sion of the oars, they put off for shore at a great rate. 
We started a boat promptly in chase, and were just about 
to overhaul them when overboard went one of the negroes. 
Of course we had to stop, and pick the poor fellow up, and 
this gave the fugitives quite a start. Again, just as we 
were upon them, they shoved the other negro into the 
water. However, as they were now out of this sort of 
amunition, we got them finally before they reached shore. 
When brought to the mainmast on charge of attempting 
to desert, they pleaded not guilty. " No idea of desert- 
ing, your honor," they declared. " We are part owners of 
this craft. We only wanted to say good-by to the girls." 

We are coaled, the crew has been scraped together as 
thoroughly as possible, and we are ready for sea, minus 
seven men. The reader will fail to fully realize the im- 
port of the loss. These men have been drilled and edu- 
cated for the work in hand ; and their place must be 
supplied by volunteers from future prizes, who in turn, 
however capable as seamen, will require months of drill to 
bring them up to the standard of the rest of the crew. 
Besides, we had been all along short of our full comple- 
ment of men. But for coaling and other unavoidable 
needs, the voice of our officers would have been never to 
enter port during the cruise. To us a port was anything 
but a recreation or pleasure. Our missing men are de- 
scribed on the ship's-books as "deserters." This, how- 
ever, is a misnomer. Jack has been kept drunk, and hid 
away in some den until the sailing of his ship. He will 
wake up, poor deluded child of Poseidon, to find his home 
swept from him, accumulation of pay sacrificed, and quasi 
friends knowing him no more. 

The delinquents are now released from the " brig." We 
bid adieu to Fort Royal, and are soon outside of the light- 
ship, and on our way to the coast of Brazil. It takes 



78 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

some time to get discipline back to the old high standard, 
and we are crippled by the loss of our runaways. Time 
heals all calamities, however. The routine of cruising-life 
is promptly resumed, working ship after " sails," and the 
everlasting drill, drill, drill ! If the officers find playing 
fighting tedious and monotonous, how must Jack look at it ? 
But it is important, yea, indispensable ; and wrestle with 
it we must. We are running down the coast of Hayti ; 
have made two captures since leaving Fort Royal, the 
Golden Rule and Chastelaine, both with food products 
principally. (A majority of the United States vessels we 
shall overhaul in these latitudes are provision-laden.) Both 
of them are fired, after removing such stores and provis- 
ions as our ship departments have need of, and transship- 
ping the crews, bags, and hammocks to our decks. The 
reader by this time must have observed that our prizes 
furnish all departments of our ship, — canvas and twine 
for the sailmaker, cordage and naval stores for the boat- 
swain, lumber for the carpenter, with but little, however, 
for the gunner, unless he comes across a can or two of 
material for the composition of his gun-polish. Our pay- 
master, however, is the grand freebooter of the ship, taking 
in provisions, small stores, tobacco, and whatever he lusts 
after, never crying hold ! enough ! so long as patience, 
time, and plunder hold out. The search continues until 
night, bad weather, or some unlooked for intervention, 
puts a stop to the raid. But we always manage to find 
use for everything transferred to our several depart- 
ments, and then comes the paymaster's chance to return 
in kind the jokes poked at him by messmates as to his 
" Mrs. Toodles " proclivities. "There!" will come from 
"Old Cheese," "didn't I tell you we should find it use- 
ful ? " We may as well state here for the enlightenment 
of the reader, that no one, officer or man, was allowed to 
take from the stores or cargo of a prize for personal use 



TRICKS OF THE FORECASTLE 79 

the smallest article, even of the most insignificant value. 
All articles removed were transferred to the respective 
departments of our ship, under the care and responsibility 
of the head of the bureau, and issued only upon requisi- 
tion, being charged to the account of the officer or man 
requiring it. A careful account of everything is kept, as 
representing a part of the prize-money. This rule also 
had the effect of keeping up discipline, as nothing so de- 
moralizes a crew as being allowed to plunder ad libitum. 
And again, Jack is much like his namesake the jackdaw, 
with a most decided aptitude for stowing away slyly any 
and every thing having an unknown value that may come 
in his way. Indeed, he will hide in the lockers and ham- 
mock nettings, old shoes, dilapidated hats, and other rub- 
bish, thinking and hoping the day will arrive when he 
can produce them for an emergency. It is amusing to 
observe the old salts on a Sunday morning, watching the 
first lieutenant in his rounds of the vessel before report- 
ing the ship to the captain as ready for inspection. Old 
barnacle-back has some treasures, in the above line, 
stored away, and keeps a keen eye on the officer as he 
orders some man to throw off the hammock-cloths. He 
knows well his toys are in clanger, and he is all expec- 
tation and anxiety. Should the executive trust to the 
carrying out of his order, and the report " nothing con- 
traband," all serene ; but should the distrustful Kell mount 
a gun-carriage, and glance his own lynx eyes inside, good- 
by to the traps, and the owner sneaks forward, broken- 
hearted at the loss of his penates — for overboard they 
go to " Davy Jones's locker." The mortification must 
be accepted without sign or sorrow ; for to acknowledge 
ownership would not save the trash, but only bring the 
self -condemned culprit into trouble, or at least stoppage 
of a day's grog. 

We coast along the shores of Hayti, and stand in for the 



So TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

town of St. Domingo. We communicate with the Spanish 
government, receiving permission to land our prisoners 
of the Golden Rule and Chastelaine ; and having made as 
usual some purchases of fruit and fresh provisions, the 
next day we are under way, and leaving the historic shores 
of the old town, point eastward. We are in a hurry now, 
having wasted much time with but little achievement «on 
our western trip, to reach the coast of Brazil, where lots 
of plunder await us. There is much of interest to be 
seen and pondered over by a visitor to these shores, but 
we anticipate seeing little of it but what goes afloat. We 
coast St. Domingo and enter the Mona Passage, an oc- 
casional sail in sight, but all reported neutral by Evans. 
We are in a comparatively unfrequented latitude for brisk 
trade in our line ; still, we make a capture to-day ( Feb. 3, 
'63), the Palmetto. Inappropriate name we reflect, for a 
Yankee vessel. She proves a lawful prize though, and is 
" looted " of what we require of her stores and cargo, crew 
transferred, and then burned. We had now been nine 
days out of port. Three vessels burned, but of insignifi- 
cant value. We shall not make big hauls until the track 
of East India bound vessels is reached in Maury's "road 
of the ocean," a road all vessels must follow, cruisers or 
no cruisers. Navigators have only the choice of some 
sixty miles of width at one point off the Brazil coast. 
Neglect warning, stray from the mile-stones, and head or 
baffling winds and currents will waft you hither and 
thither, any way but the one wished. So here is the 
place for us to stand by, and also the place for Uncle 
Sam's cruisers to hold argument with us. It will there- 
fore be understood why anticipation of another fight on 
our hands off the Brazilian coast makes much of the even- 
ing and mess talk. Not that Jack worries about it much. 
His mourning eye has resumed its dignity, his sore head 
has healed, and his spirits have their sea-legs on. Song 



WASHING DAYS FOR JACK 95 

course of drill at the great guns and at other exercises ; 
but as we shall buckle down to this daily, they will soon 
be up to the standard. Besides, we usually find in every 
batch of recruits some who have served in one or the 
other of the navies, and their former experience at the 
gunnery-schools enables them to materially assist the offi- 
cer of division in the training of the "raws." 

Our middies are having a circus to-day with their sex- 
tants. We happen to be crossing the equator in company 
with the sun (it is March 29, 1863). It is rather funny to 
watch them shifting about from point to point, now on the 
quarter-deck, and then on the forecastle, trying to fathom 
the unusual behavior of the chariot of Phcebus, which 
seems for a second time to have fallen into the hands of 
inexperience (which is in a sense true enough this time). 
They are in a state of great perplexity, and furtively 
watch the writer until he turns to the captain at his side 
with the unusual report, "About twelve o'clock, sir — no 
latitude — about oh the equator, sir." This time there is 
no calculating to be done, no altitude to calculate from. 
The young gentlemen avoid each other's eyes as they 
gravely put up their instruments, and then saunter off to 
mess-quarters without handing in their reports. Some- 
thing has dawned upon them, but they are sedulously 
careful not to invite sympathy. 

We are still about helpless, under sail, with the lightest 
of zephyrs drawing, now from S. E. and anon N. E., then 
breathless calm with a saturation of solar fervency that is 
almost intolerable, relieved by a sudden forming of the 
blackest of clouds, and a downpour of rain such as the 
dweller in regions of moderate evaporation has no concep- 
tion of. A rain that in ten minutes floods the decks so 
that the swash of the torrent as we roll on the gentle 
swell would be dangerous to life and limb if the side-ports 
were not left open to facilitate its escape. In the mean- 



g6 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

time one is constantly kept in remembrance of Mother 
Goose's pathetic ballad, — 

" The maid was in the garden 
Hanging out the clothes," 

for from mast to mast and from all convenient points 
stretches a web of clothes-lines laden with Jack's animal 
wash. His clothes-bag and his person are for the present, 
at least, immaculate. 

But presently a sail drifts in sight, and Evans, between 
showers, pronounces her American. A boat is lowered, 
and an officer sent to board her. She cannot escape, and 
elbow-grease is cheaper than coal. But could we only 
have guessed the character of this vessel's cargo, the Ala- 
bama might very economically have used up her whole re- 
maining stock of fuel to get alongside. She was shortly 
reported to be the Louisa Hatch from Cardiff to the 
East Indies, and a lawful prize. She had all the coal we 
needed, and tons to spare ; and it was the very quality 
we preferred, being nearly smokeless, not likely to at- 
tract the attention of our prey when out of our sight, and 
free from the dust and smut which we disliked so much 
on our decks. We are bound just now to the Island of 
Fernando de Naronha off the coast of Brazil, where we 
expect to meet our old transport the Agrippina. It will 
be remembered that we relieved her of her cargo of coals 
at the Areas some time since, and sent her back to report 
to Capt. Bulloch for another load. But we have always 
felt doubts of Capt. McQueen. He has the Scotch vices, 
with a very sparing allowance of the Scotch virtues, es- 
pecially those of loyalty and temperance ; and many in- 
dications have led us to suspect that honor would not 
weigh much with him if the interests of McQueen hap- 
pened to fall into the wrong scale. As he did not keep 
his engagement with us at Naronha, we were particularly 



IN THE TRADE WINDS 105 

prisoners. On the part of the government, some advan- 
tages would be the slight chance of escape of prisoners, 
greater economy in all departments of the system, and 
removal of prison buildings from public view. Islands 
in the ocean are to be had for the taking, or may be 
cheaply purchased. 

We are now catching the S. E. trade winds in south 
latitude, though they are light as yet. The writer is en- 
gaged these fine days, when off watch, fishing for dolphin, 
large schools of them playing around the ship, and remain- 
ing while the weather is fine. As a rule, the men trick 
them with a bit of white cloth or bright metal attached on 
the hook, playing the line on the water. It is more suc- 
cessful than spearing them, but not so exciting or scien- 
tific. The manner of fishing with the " grains " is as 
follows : standing in the chains with a waist-belt on for 
support, and leaning forward over the water, the staff of 
the grains grasped, and the coil of the line in your left 
hand, you await the approach of the fish in their trip 
around the ship. The habits of the dolphin lead him to 
circumnavigate the vessel continuously for hours and 
hours. Should the sun be unobscured by clouds, the 
fish is wary, and seeing you or your shadow, swims deep 
upon arriving in your " wake ; " but otherwise comes near 
to the surface, two to four feet under. At this depth you 
are sure of the grains reaching him. The instrument used 
is five-pronged and barbed, what we are familiar with as 
Neptune's trident, only with the addition of two prongs at 
right angles with the others. The object is to strike the 
fish in the head, it being the most likely part to give you 
a hold. The refraction of the water is a factor to be con- 
sidered, so you can guess what there is of skill and prac- 
tice required for the successful prosecution of the sport. 
The writer has spent hours at it unrewarded by a single 
"strike." At another time (as in matter of capturing 



106 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

prizes) all would go merry as a marriage-bell, and the 
deck be spattered with the blood of many a victim. It 
is a strange phenomenon of nature, the rapid changes 
of color in the dying dolphin. I do not know if scientists 
explain it. Care must be observed in eating this, as 
well as other deep-sea fish. Should the fish have re- 
cently fed on barnacles from the bottom of coppered 
ships, the meat is dangerous, producing high fever. Its 
unfitness for food can be ascertained by placing a silver 
coin with it in the frying-pan. Should the coin be turned 
black, avoid eating the fish. 

We are having now from time to time flying-fish on our 
table, a present, in all cases, from the men, their game 
preserves being by custom exclusively their own. We 
allude to the extreme forepart of the deck. The manner 
of securing these little rice-birds of the deep is as follows : 
a net is suspended from the head-booms perpendicularly, 
another below it horizontally, as a receptacle, and a lan- 
tern hung in the centre. The fish, flushed either by the 
passage of the ship through their midst, or stampeded 
by their relentless enemy, the dolphin, make the rise 
from the water, and blinded or attracted by the light are 
trapped into the net. " A winged mullet " is a good de- 
scription of the appearance and shape of the fish. The 
muscular power required to propel these creatures through 
the air for so long a distance, say one hundred yards or 
more, is marvellous, and must approach, in comparison 
to that of larger life, the proportion assigned by scientists 
to the flea in his jump. The flying-fish does not appear, 
when in motion in the air, to use his wings, except as a 
rudder or guide ; hence, we take it, the propulsion is in 
the force of the spring from the water. 

We have the ship under sail, steam down and propeller 
up. The usual routine is broken into by the mast-head 
cry, " Sail ho ! " and without the slightest excitement, and 



THE BRAZIL PASS 8 1 

and dance and the glee-club's melodious strains take the 
deck as of yore ; and Semmes himself lights his evening 
cigar on the bridge, where not only these things may be 
viewed and listened to, but also the private sentiments of 
Jack, freely spoken to his messmate in plain English, or in 
subtlety of yarn or witticism. Semmes understands just 
how to keep himself near to the hearts and in the confi- 
dence of his men, without in the slightest degree descend- 
ing from his dignity, or permitting direct approach. He 
does not seem to pay the slightest attention to what is 
going on below him. But Jack knows well enough that he 
is taking it all in informally. Individually and collectively 
Jack has taken soundings of the " old man," and knows 
pretty well how to steer and where an anchor will hold. 
The men feel no restraint from his presence — rather they 
enjoy it. In their way they love him and are proud of 
him, and he returns the sentiments — in his way. 

We have been slowly working along to the eastward, 
baffled by variable winds and dirty weather for some days. 
Sight a few sail, but easily make them out to be neu- 
trals. Approaching the last days of February the sky 
clears up. And then the mast-head hails and hails again, 
and to the query, " Where away ? " reports vessels here, 
there, and everywhere — all around the compass. As 
there is but little wind, we have only to pick out our vic- 
tims. Evans is sent aloft, and soon reports several 
" Yankees," and says they are changing their courses as 
if they smelt a rat. This is soon evident enough. They 
are separating as much as possible, so as to give us a long 
chase in detail. There is nothing for it but to steam up 
and make sharp work. We do not make chase with steam 
except in rare cases. Semmes well knows that he cannot 
enter port for coal without advertising his whereabouts, 
and subjecting his crew to the demoralizing effects so 
lately noted. 



82 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

The power of our engines soon puts us alongside the 
first prize ; without a moment's delay a prize-crew is 
thrown on board, under command of Master's-mate Ful- 
ham, with orders to follow us as closely as possible, and 
we are after the next, already well down on the horizon. 
She also proves to be a lawful prize, barque Olive Jane 
from Bordeaux, bound to New York, with wines, brandies, 
sardines, olives, etc. In the meantime the prize in charge 
of Fulham was hull down in the distance, standing towards 
us as ordered. The character of cargo on board the Olive 
Jane, consisting as it did mostly of liquors, made the 
"looting" of her, for needed supplies for our vessel, dan- 
gerous to the morals of our boarding-crews. The writer, 
in command of the captain's gig, with faithful Freemantle 
as coxswain, had charge of the breaking out of the hold of 
the prize, with strict orders to hurry up the work, and 
above all things to keep the boat's crew from grog, and 
see that they did not bring any on board their own vessel. 
Reader, if you know a sailor, you understand the gravity 
of the present trust ; otherwise you fail to realize the 
weight of responsibility on the officer's shoulders. Call- 
ing Freemantle aside, after taking off the hatches, I ex- 
plained to him the nature of the cargo, and the strict 
orders received, at the same time hinting at the utter 
impossibility of keeping the men from the tempting fluids ; 
and added my determination, arrived at after mature 
thought, to spread a lunch on the cabin table, furnished 
from the cargo and ship-stores, of sardines, olives, cheese, 
etc., flanked by sundry bottles of brandy, burgundy, and 
claret, that the men would be required while working in 
breaking out the hold to abstain from opening the casks 
or cases, but might quench their thirst in an orderly 
manner from the cabin set-out. The scheme worked to a 
charm. Jack had no incentive to disobey orders and get 
into trouble in consequence, and doubtless also felt thrown 



HARD WORK AND MANY PRIZES 83 

upon his honor not to get his officer into " hot water." 
From time to time the cabin was visited for a bite and a 
nip. And now observe the self-constituted guests at the 
cabin table of the Olive Jane, luxuriating in the comfort of 
a chair, a snow-white cloth, and verily a four-prong fork — 
the table groaning under the weight of luxuries ! Surely 
Jack could be in no better luck, even as the guest of a Friar 
Tuck. And you have only to watch narrowly these waifs 
of the world, and draw for yourself a moral of life. One 
fellow, but yesterday you noted at his forecastle deck 
dinner, a hardtack for his plate, a slab of salt pork on it 
cut with his sheath-knife, handled with greasy fingers to 
the mouth ; the old boyhood training asserts itself, and as 
he wipes his mustache with his napkin he has given his 
heart's secret away. A broken-down gentleman with a 
story ! What a storeroom of tragedy, comedy, and heart- 
ache the forecastle of a man-of-war frequently is ! Mate- 
rial for an army of novelists. 

Not a bottle of liquor reached our ship ; and the boat's 
crew under my command returned in a good humor only, 
no more. The prize was fired in cabin and forecastle, and 
made a grand blaze, owing to the highly inflammable char- 
acter of her cargo. We were not many hundred yards off 
when the flames could be seen licking the topsails. We 
secured a quantity of sardines among other delicacies ; and 
if you have never added heretofore to your menu fried 
sardines, reader, do so. We now overhaul the first prize 
under the charge of Fulham. She proved to be the 
Golden Eagle. It is late when we get alongside of her, 
the Olive Jane having drawn us hull-down away. We 
find her, upon examination of papers, a lawful prize, and 
transferring her crew, and adding her chronometers and 
flag, fire her. Allowing steam to go down, and putting 
the Alabama under short sail, we loaf along. The wind 
is light ; but we are now in " the road," and in no hurry, 



84 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

hence the reduced sail. Single-reefed topsails alone, 
merely enough to steady the ship. On one beam is the 
Olive Jane, on the other the Golden Eagle, both wrapped 
in flames from spar-deck to mast-head, the sea and heavens 
glowing in the red glare, the flames varying in brilliancy, 
as the material for the time being is supplied or denied, 
suggesting the phenomenon of the aurora borealis. On 
the rail in groups may be seen the officers and crews of 
the burning prizes, conversing in subdued whispers, — we 
cannot flatter ourselves in complimentary terms of us ; 
so, as listeners rarely hear good of themselves, we will not 
invade the sanctity of their circle. One cannot but ad- 
mire the nonchalant manner of the American sailor when 
confronted with danger or disaster, and it makes our 
hearts go out to him as we mark the cool bearing hid- 
ing the avalanche of conflicting emotions. You may not 
know it, boys, but a sympathy for you dwells in us. We 
are all of us but the victims of circumstance. But we 
must smother these feelings — at least for the present. 
We are here for duty, and must strain our efforts to the 
utmost, and tread the path resolutely. We should make 
many captures in this fashionable highway of commerce — 
at least, we shall have the opportunity to judge the ex- 
tent of demoralization produced by our past efforts. We 
are now having a surfeit of chronometers. The winding 
of them still continues, under orders from Semmes ; and a 
precious lot of time is consumed at it. It was a joyous day 
to the writer when the time came to rescind the order, and 
let them take care of themselves till overhauled by a maker. 
By the way, they supplied the only prize-money ever real- 
ized by the custodian. Just before leaving Cherbourg for 
the fight, the chronometers, some seventy odd in num- 
ber, were transferred to the British yacht Hornet, Capt. 
Hewitt, and eventually landed at Liverpool. In the year 
1867 or 1868 the writer was handed a sterling check by 




Acting Surgeon D. Herbert Llewellyn 



CHRONOMETERS FOR A GOOD TIME 85 

a member of a Baltimore banking-house, as coming from 
Capt. Semmes, with the remark, " Semmes desires me to 
say this is your share of the sale of the chronometers 
abroad, and also requests you to give him the address of 
Lieuts. Armstrong and Wilson." The request was also 
made that the transaction be kept shady. The reasons 
for silence have happily passed away, as also my old 
friend the banker. Between us we held for many years 
the secret of this, the only prize-money from the Ala- 
bama. A small dividend compared to outlay. 

The next day we have sails in sight constantly, and 
Evans is kept busy at the mast-head ; but he never 
"squeals" at the duty, indeed, the contrary — he is quite 
proud of his importance. From time to time he reports 
neutrals, now English, now Northcountrymen, etc., but 
none, so far, " contraband," as Ben Butler would have 
dubbed them. Evans's shipmates are never so pleased as 
when they can guy him. One middy would say, " Look 
here, Evans, you are playing the d 1 with your re- 
ports ! This won't do, see ? The skipper has turned our 
head from the chase, and I'd swear she's Yankee!" — 
" What do you know about the rig of a craft ? " growls 
Evans, his eyes snapping in anger at the insinuation ; " I 
made out vessels in the offing when you were sucking 
sugar rags." And turning his back in contempt, he 
mounts the rigging for another scout. The middy signals 
his chum with a wink of the eye, and rolls forward in imi- 
tation of the boatswain's mate. He has had his fun " nag- 
ging " Evans. Several days elapse with only neutrals in 
view. Our past industry is beginning to tell. The en- 
emy's ships are getting scarce. Later in the cruise the 
reader will witness at times all hands sorely disappointed 
in their hopes of a prize, though Evans has put his " in- 
dorsement " on the back that the sail is " Yank." His judg- 
ment is true ; but upon being boarded, the vessel, though 



86 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

American-built, is found to be under foreign papers, having 
been sold and transferred to some other flag. Thus grad- 
ually sinks the proud carrying-trade of the North Ameri- 
can Republic. We have at last, however, found the Stars 
and Stripes at the peak of the ship Washington ; but her 
cargo (guano) being entirely on neutral account, and not 
contraband of war, she is bonded and released. The John 
A. Parks next requires our polite attention. Her cargo 
proving to be enemy's property, her officers and crew are 
transferred to our ship, the usual removal of nautical in- 
struments made, and the Parks is fired. We are experi- 
encing all the same an active, stirring, and exciting life. 
The ship under close-reefed topsails in the strong 
" trades," sauntering along in this busy pathway of com- 
merce, the diverging point to the many quarters of the 
globe, both north and south. The Alabama, like a beast of 
prey crouching on the crossroads, is wide awake and alert. 
It is a dark night, and the usual " trade " mist spreading out 
over the water and dimming the sight. The clear, sharp 
hail comes from a lookout, "Sail ho!" "Close aboard;" 
and looming up out of the mist a great ship is seen like 
a ghost rising from a graveyard — ■ a cloud of canvas alow 
and aloft, bounding by as though perceiving and appreciat- 
ing the danger. In a twinkling the dead quiet on our 
deck gives place to bustle and stir. The quick, sharp 
orders through the deck-officer's trumpet, the shrill pipe 
of the boatswain's mate's whistle, the rattle of running 
rigging, the top-men and sail-loosers springing up the rat- 
lines, and in a flash the rover is under a cloud of light- 
kites and studding-sails, and you realize the magic of the 
manoeuvre. The wild beast is making his spring. Before 
the trade-gale the two racers are rushing, feeling " the 
thrill of life along the keel." Now a flash, lighting up the 
race-course, a boom ! and a screech of the rifle-shell ; 
the chase luffs up, and shivers her canvas in the strong 



STREWING RICHES ON THE OCEAN Zj 

breeze — a tremor of surrender and despair. No wonder 
Jack has become a revelation of quick and methodical mo- 
tion. Without boast, just now the Alabama's hearties 
have no equals in ship-manoeuvres. But he is a cheerful 
fellow under it — indeed, enjoys it to the point of physical 
exhaustion, as preferable to otherwise languishing under 
ennui; nor does he fail to keep in mind a prospect of 
fresh grub possibly from the stranger, prize-money, and 
the inevitable — "All hands splice the main-brace!" 
Now it is quiet again. The Alabama is disrobed to close 
reefs, the prisoners under guard in the " waist," the 
burning ship in the distance lighting up the lea and 
sky, a beacon of warning to the close-hunted foe ; the 
watch again coiled up under the weather bulwarks, snug 
in their pea-jackets, the insatiate rover stealing along to 
a next victim. No chance for stagnant blood in this. A 
wild western hunting-ground offers no more excitement 
than this promenade of commerce for the next few weeks. 
The caravans of merchant-traders, passing this narrow 
belt of ocean travel, bound both north and south, to the 
United States and Europe, the Pacific, East Indies, China, 
and Japan, had reason enough for surmise and conjecture 
in the long line of wreckage encountered day by day — a 
puzzle doubtless to the mass of them, as there had been 
no severe weather to propose a solution of the unusual 
sight. Frequently many hours' labor was required in the 
effort to reach certain articles of cargo required in one or 
more departments of our vessel, necessitating the throw- 
ing overboard of a heterogeneous mass of boxes, bales, 
and casks. Could some rascally North Sea or Hatteras 
wrecker have these scenes presented to him in a dream, 
he would awake from a nightmare of grief that such valu- 
able plunder should float so free and far from his rapacious 
grasp. 

A novel but interesting sight it is to watch the curious 



88 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

faces of all hands as the skipper of a detained vessel 
emerges from the Alabama's cabin. It is the question 
whether a bonfire or otherwise is the result of the legal 
examination just completed below. You are not kept 
long in suspense. Simply note that the skipper, minus his 
ship's papers, with downcast eyes and lugubrious counte- 
nance, saunters aft, and the tale is told. And now our boats 
leave the side for the work of breaking out cargo, and 
securing articles manifested on the prize for which req- 
uisitions have been filled out. Sometimes, as the boats 
return after many hours of hard labor, the squeal of pigs 
and cackle of fowls strike the ear, and the sight of ham- 
pers of potatoes and onions the eye ; then, not only Jack 
all smiles, bustles about to " whip " them over the side, 
but ward-room and steerage descend from their dignity, 
and, with jokes and commendations, reward the returned 
purveyors. More importance, for the time being, is at- 
tached to the improved condition of the commissary than 
to the prize-money secured by the capture. The one is 
practical and tangible, the other in the dim future.' You 
may rest assured all thoughts, fore and aft, tend towards 
the next meal. It would require a phethoric pocketbook 
to purchase any fellow's seat at table or mess-cloth for the 
next day or two. We have by this time learned also in 
what latitudes to look for these windfalls. In cruising off 
the Brazils an inward or outward bound East Indiaman 
will never satisfy your cravings for fresh grub. You 
must find a purveyor from some near port. 

We are by this time in the " middle of the road ; " and 
a British vessel passing, bound to London, her captain was 
induced for a consideration to take our prisoners to port. 
Paroling them, they were transferred to the barque. Per- 
haps the reader would like an insight into the modus 
operandi of getting rid of a lot of prisoners, and troubling 
our English cousins with their care. The inducement is, 



DISPOSING OF PRISONERS • 89 

first ample rations for the prisoners to tide over even an 
unusually long passage, with the addition of sundry barrels 
of salt beef and pork, equal perhaps in value to half a 
year's pay to her captain. Sometimes it takes a chronom- 
eter to tempt the skipper's cupidity. This is the bait 
thrown out ; and as it is a personal matter between the 
two captains, the owners have no cause to protest or claim 
any share of the reward. You will see that the Ala- 
bama is equal to any emergency. Being thrown on his 
own resources, Semmes has often to work "Tom Cox's 
traverse " in getting rid of his prisoners. 

Our vessel is to-day in an uproar of excitement — the 
capture and burning of a prize is but a calm to it. Johnny 
Raw happened under the lee of the mainsail, and, being 
caught in the eddy, was dashed in the sea to leeward. He 
was a poor sailor at swimming, and was " making bad 
weather " of it. A request from a boat's crew is complied 
with, the maintopsail hove to the mast, a boat lowered, 
and Johnny is brought on board wet, cold, and shivering, 
and forlorn looking indeed. But we must introduce you to 
the subject of this stir up. "Johnny Raw" is a bird, raw 
by name, but not otherwise ; he has outlived on board our 
ship the appropriate cognomen allowed at the time of his 
first rescue, for his late associations have made him a 
rascal. Johnny reached our quarter-boat at sea one lucky 
morning (for him) in an exhausted state, wing-weary and 
starved, and was taken in and cared for by Jack. The 
poor orphan soon " came about and got his sea-legs on." 
A great pet he was, black as a raven, about the size of a 
field lark, and with a noble carriage. Johnny had a most 
remarkable gait, hopping, both legs together rapidly, and 
with giant leaps. He would cover several feet at each 
hop. When the boatswain and mates piped to dinner he 
recognized the call, was the first on hand, and moving over 
the mess-cloths, helped himself to the choice bits, wander- 



90 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

ing from mess to mess, and disputing with the mess-cooks. 
He was literally like the marine soger, in " everybody's 
mess." Johnny soon recovers from the present exciting 
adventure, and returns to his piratical expeditions to the 
mess-cloths. To complete his history, now we have been 
obliged to begin it, he did not survive the cruise, eventu- 
ally meeting his fate by being blown to leeward in a gale 
of wind. 

We are now jogging along towards the equator — 
weather good, with a clear horizon, enabling the " mast- 
head " to see what is to be seen. But strange to say only 
a few vessels appear. We have boarded one American 
ship, the Bethiah Thayer ; but she had to be bonded, her 
cargo being all neutral and non-contraband. To illustrate 
the constant danger of being run down by passing vessels, 
" lying to " as we now are, under only topsails, across the 
path of travel. Near midnight in the first watch, the 
writer having the deck, and standing on the horse-block 
beating the rail with his trumpet for want of something 
better to do, the outlook sang out, " Sail ho ! close 
aboard ! " We were on opposite tacks. As rapidly as 
thought the sail has passed astern, so near it looked "as 
though you could throw a biscuit on board." She was 
under full sail, and bowling along at a lively rate. In a 
jiffy the reefs are shaken out, helm put up, and soon we 
are under full sail. The hound is after the fox. As a 
matter of course the chase is a long one, — all stern 
chases are, — but the Alabama has her seven-league boots 
on, and time at last is called. Getting within gun range, 
she answers to the warning of a blank cartridge, gracefully 
luffing to the breeze, and lays her maintopsail " to the 
mast." Reader, it is a beautiful sight, — that of a gallant 
ship, her light-kites spread to the breeze, and careening 
under the press of canvas, dashing the spray from her cut- 
water, as a noble steed the foam from his curb. The 



IN THE "DOLDRUMS" 9 1 

writer would involuntarily be reminded of the flutter of a 
bird brought wounded to the ground by the shot of the 
sportsman, as at the report of our gun the spilt sails 
flutter in the breeze. She proves upon being boarded the 
American ship Punjaub. Her cargo is neutral (guano). 
She is released on bond, and the Alabama again under 
low sail saunters along. We have run, you will say, 
many miles out of our way, and wasted time. But no ! 
any way is our way, so " it's in the road." We are as likely 
to make a haul here as at the spot left at midnight. We 
are now in the " doldrums," approaching the equator, 
light airs and calms, with frequent and heavy tropical 
showers. The officers and men are paddling about the 
decks in bare feet, indulging in a fresh water corn-soak, 
and the stewards and mess-boys filling the officers' wash- 
tubs preparatory to the luxury 'of a bath of a sort not to 
be had every day. Our condenser supplies commonly the 
fresh water used ; but the allowance is just one gallon per 
day, per capita, and deducting the portion needed for the 
cook's use, but little is left for drinking purposes and 
ablutions. One reason for this economy of water is the 
possible danger of accident to the condenser, in which 
case we should have only enough to last to the nearest 
port. 

During this drift in the light airs and currents, our 
worthy and thoughtful boatswain has improvised a bath- 
house for officers and crew, a safe asylum from that ag- 
gressive hunter, the shark. From the lower studding-sail- 
boom, rigged out, Mecaskey has spread a large square sail, 
sunk some feet under the surface of the water, and kept 
beneath by solid shot in the centre, the foot, head, and 
leach of the sail triced up, forming a huge bag. In 
this contrivance you may sport in comfort and safety, 
and it is no slight luxury under this scorching tropical 
sun. 



92 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Two vessels of the enemy's fleet have drifted to us, 
or rather we have drifted together in the light airs, — 
the ship Morning Star and the schooner Kingfisher. 
The first is released on bond, cargo being neutral and 
non-contraband of war ; the latter, a whaling schooner, is 
condemned and burned. In the meantime we are busy 
enough boarding vessels, but nearly all neutrals. Evans 
is constantly aloft, at one moment nearly drowned by a 
passing torrent of rain, and anon scorched by the blazing 
sun. And though it is a post of duty which none other 
of us would like to fill under present conditions, I verily 
think Evans likes it. It possesses the same excitement 
that hunting the ostrich on the desert plain does to the 
African sportsman. 

On March 23, about on the "line," we fired the whal- 
ing schooner Kingfisher at nightfall, an equatorial rain 
and thunder storm of unusual severity prevailing at the 
time. The little craft, though oil-soaked, blazed by fits 
and starts. In the lull of passing rain-squalls, the flames 
would shoot mast-head high, seeming to play at hide-and- 
seek with the vivid lightning, anon shrinking beneath a 
drenching shower, leaving nature to keep up the pyrotech- 
nic display, — a weird-like spectacle. To the returning 
boarding party, the Alabama, hove-to in wait, silhouetted in 
sharp outline against the horizon, lay pictured, " a painted 
ship upon a painted ocean." A wilder scene it would be 
difficult to imagine, and one of the many of our cruise 
offering a fine chance for the artist's brush. We are con- 
stantly, just now, on the qui vive for an enemy's cruiser. 
The belt of ocean travel is very narrow at this latitude ; 
and our beacon fires are daily and nightly lighting up the 
waste and sky for at least half its width, inviting a clash 
if we are destined to have one. 

The boarding work is quite arduous. Our scout re- 
ports many American rigs among the vast fleet drifting 





Chief Engineer Miles J. Freeman 



GATHERING RECRUITS FROM PRISONERS 93 

lazily in the light variable airs, and the boats are kept 
constantly at work overhauling and examining. Where 
transfer papers occur, and they are quite frequent now, 
the master of the suspect is requested (we cannot order) to 
take his papers to the " court-room " (our ship) ; so far a 
mere form. They are invariably found to be correct. So 
Evans is exonerated, and struts to the main-rigging bound 
aloft for another investigation. We are finding trans- 
ferred ships plentiful. Rain ! rain ! rain ! We are pad- 
dling in it all day, and give us time, we shall become 
web-footed. However, it is equatorial weather, and, to be 
frank, we have no good clothes on to spoil in wet ; Jack is 
making himself comfortable in raiment washed in fresh 
water, free from the sticky and clammy feeling which is 
the inevitable result of salt water scrubbing. We now 
approach two ships singled out by Evans as American. 
We soon come up with them under increased sail. They 
are the Charles Hill and Nora. Both proving lawful 
prizes, their crews are removed, and vessels fired. We re- 
ceived a welcome addition to our crew-list from these 
latter vessels — nine men. 

It is interesting and significant to note the zeal with 
which our crew enter into the task of gathering recruits 
from the prisoners. Nor is the motive altogether a patri- 
otic or unselfish one. Our men have realized that a full 
complement means much less labor to themselves, to say 
nothing of the security of a full-manned battery. Ob- 
serve a group of stalwart, lithe, and active North Country 
and English sailor-prisoners, lounging in the lee-gangway. 

Our " hearties," enjoying the after-dinner pipe, have in- 
sinuated themselves in their midst. We are still short of 
men. Semmes and Kell are aft in deep consultation over 
the group forward, anxious and impatient to have them 
step to the " mainmast " and request an interview. It 
would be beneath Semmes's dignity to take the initiative. 



94 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Casting their eyes forward, they take in the situation. 
They know our self-constituted shipping-masters are ply- 
ing all their arts and wiles to secure these halting, hesi- 
tating adventurers. Kell telegraphs Semmes a significant 
look and smile, as much as to say, " Those lads of ours 
are steering it O. K. ;" and they part — our captain to his 
cabin and international law, the first "luff" to his daily 
round of duties. Now stray forward, and take a stand 
near the hunters of men and their game. It is easy to 
guess the line of persuasion and seduction that is em- 
ployed to secure the services of these picked sailor lads. 
The items are most alluring, — double pay, in gold ; gener- 
ous rations ; tobacco ad libitum ; grog twice a day and in 
generous quantity ; prospective prize-money ; and last, but 
not least, kind and sympathetic officers over them. The 
bid has been made. Our worthies of the lee-scuppers are 
lost in revery. They are thinking of the character at- 
tached to this lone rover by her enemy (pirate), what 
might be their fate if captured, and of other conse- 
quences of casting off home protection by the act of en- 
listment. There is an ominous silence on the group for a 
while. Our men have thoughtfully and judiciously retired 
to their several tasks, leaving them untrammelled. All at 
once a concerted move is made for the mainmast, the cap- 
tain and first " luff " sent for, and shortly the interview is 
over, and we have secured half a dozen splendid speci- 
mens of old Neptune's bantlings. The very danger of the 
venture has appealed to their instincts ; and the romance 
of the situation, fully as much as other considerations, has 
captured them, hearts and hands. Jack's very soul loves 
daring and adventure. 

We have for the first time our full complement of men ; 
and take them all round, they are as select and competent 
a lot as could be picked from the crew of any English 
man-of-war. Just now some of them need a thorough 



THE WHALING-BARQUE NYE 107 

with only the notice of a blank cartridge, the sail is laying 
quiet near us with maintopsail to the mast. She proves 
the whaling-barque Nye, with part cargo of oil. As in 
the case of all whalers, the captain cannot dodge behind 
forged papers as to ownership of cargo, hence Semmes 
has not to look up the " code." After looting her, and 
removing prisoners and chronometers, she is fired. These 
whalers make a fierce conflagration and dense smoke, and 
it may be taken as a certainty that scores of vessels have 
been warned by this sign, and escaped capture. Indeed, 
in heaping all the opprobrium possible on us, it was given 
out by the Northern press that we stood by the burning 
ships in order to capture others, who mistaking the cause 
of the fire, and actuated by the impulse of common hu- 
manity, would bear down to save life ; and continuing, 
these newspapers would picture, as a result, vessels act- 
ually taking fire at sea accidentally being left to their 
fate. Disingenuous ! though a somewhat plausible state- 
ment at the first blush, it will not stand the crucial test 
of analysis. Prudence on our part would suggest leaving 
the burning prize at once, for fear of the enemy's cruiser, 
and common-sense would suggest that the merchant-fleet 
of the enemy would severely avoid these burning sign-posts 
on the ocean. Humanity would be smothered up in this 
case in self-interest. But a very decided majority of the 
vessels on the ocean are other than American, and with- 
out fail they would stand down to any burning vessel to 
ascertain the cause. We found they always did so, night 
or day. 

We have before referred to the usefulness of the whaler 
as a supply ship. We got from the Nye a choice lot of 
good old Virginia tobacco. Next to the sight of rum, this 
pleases Jack most. Lots of comfort to him in it. We 
have been furnished through late newspapers with the 
description of a large clipper vessel, the Ino, purchased 



108 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

by the United States Navy Department from the mer- 
chant-fleet, strengthened, armed with a heavy battery, and 
stationed now on this coast " to look out for the Ala- 
bama." We are pleased to learn it. For besides furnish- 
ing the officers and crew with food for conversation and 
gossip, it has increased the interest of the mast-head look- 
out, as well as of Evans. A sharper (if possible) watch 
is kept especially for her. We want to find her badly, 
yea, are pining for her. What chance would the heaviest 
armed sailing-ship have with a fast steam-cruiser under 
her stern raking her ? Particularly if she was caught in 
the light airs prevailing in this latitude. Wise Secretary 
of the Navy ! But we never had the chance of changing 
her flag, and cruising in her against the old one. 

We are now in a narrow belt of ocean travel, and 
should run across an enemy's cruiser at any time. Day 
by day we expect it. We cannot imagine they are not 
hereabouts. It would seem a school-boy could arrange a 
plan of pursuit. Yet we raid this pathway of commerce, 
scattering American shipping as chaff before the wind, 
and the only cruisers we come up with are the Florida 
and Georgia, our own ships. The best display of judg- 
ment falling under our observation was that of Capt. 
Baldwin of the United States steamer Vanderbilt, whose 
unerring judgment led him, as the hound after the fox, to 
follow us from point to point, without a loss of the scent 
at any time, until he had tracked us from the West India 
Islands to the Brazil thoroughfare, thence to the Cape of 
Good Hope ; where he on one occasion came out of the 
port of Simon's Town a few days before our arrival, and 
must have at times been close aboard of us. Nothing 
but his enormous consumption of coal, some eighty tons 
per day, compelled him to take the back track to Brazil. 
Coals increase in value in almost geometrical progression 
as you get away from the coal-fields of Europe and North 




Midshipman William H. Sinclair 



A TEN DAYS' CRUISE IO9 

America. Had this vessel kept on, and stationed herself 
in the Straits of Sunda, the fight off Cherbourg might never 
have taken place, and many an American vessel rotting at 
anchor in the Eastern ports might have been released, and 
once more homeward bound with flowing sheets and ple- 
thoric cargoes. So far as the writer can judge, Baldwin 
displayed better judgment than any of his compeers sent 
in pursuit of the Alabama. It has often occurred to the 
writer to marvel why each narrow strait of commerce was 
not watched constantly, instead of patroling the open 
ocean in search of us. 

We are in the trade winds fairly, and the breeze has 
freshened, making the meeting of vessels more likely. 
" Sail ho ! " again, with a report soon from aloft that 
she is Yankee. She is Southern bound. Not much 
trouble or waste of time with her. A blank cartridge 
heaves her to. We seldom have to use a shot or shell 
now. Our enemy has found out we have them if re- 
quired. Upon being boarded, she proved the ship Dorcas 
Prince for Shanghai. Prisoners are transferred, and torch 
applied. We have now been cruising ten days. Luck 
has not been poor, still not what it should be. We are 
on the best hunting-ground on the map, excepting some 
of the narrow straits leading into open oceans, and we 
should be driving a brisk trade. It looks as though the 
ubiquitous Yankee skipper had sold out to John Bull and 
gone out of business. We are having lots of " talk " from 
the mast-head lookout, but we can draw no comfort from 
Evans. The monotonous answer to the deck-hail being 
" English, sir," or such. At last a bird is flushed from 
the covey. Soon the hail from Evans comes to the of- 
ficer of the deck, " Yankee, sir." That settles it. We 
soon near each other, and a cartridge brings her main- 
topsail to the mast, and United States colors to the peak. 
She proves, upon boarding, to be the Union Jack for 



IIO TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Shanghai from Boston. While the prize-officer is on 
board of her, and before sending, as usual, the captain 
of the enemy's ship on board our vessel with his papers, 
" Sail ho ! " comes again from the mast-head. Leaving 
this vessel to follow with the prize-crew in charge, we 
make sail, and putting on our race-boots, start to over- 
haul the stranger. A fine breeze blowing, we are soon 
near the sail, and a blank cartridge heaves her to. This 
latter vessel also proves to be a prize, the clipper-ship 
Sea Lark of New York, bound to San Francisco. You see 
we take them here, bound to every quarter of the globe. 
The boarding-officer of the Union Jack has now run 
down to us. Removing such provisions and other stores 
as are required, and sending to our ship the prisoners 
and chronometers of both vessels, they are ready for the 
torch. The caravan of boats from the two doomed ships 
have deposited their human freight on our decks, and 
soon the prize-masters may be seen tumbling over the 
sides. Marvellous the rapidity with which the flame burst 
out from the cabin and forecastle, and envelop the ship, 
leaping the masts and licking the sails. Say what you 
will, we experience deep feelings of regret at this whole- 
sale destruction of splendid ships and valuable cargoes. 
But as we peruse a batch of Northern newspapers, and 
learn of the devastation going on in our own dear land, 
we laugh at our mourning, with a heart steeled and 
embittered over again. 

We are much inconvenienced in the ward-room. The 
last three prizes have given us a number of female pas- 
sengers. We do not designate them prisoners, and the 
officers have been turned out of their staterooms to ac- 
commodate them. This situation settles it that Semmes 
must board some foreign vessel, and make a bargain to 
transfer this army, or put the ship into port. We had 
quite an excitement to-day. Made a steamer under sail 



A STRANGE SIGHT III 

to windward of us, and from the rake of her masts and 
two funnels had no difficulty in recognizing the Confed- 
erate States steamer Florida. We would, if we could, 
have spoken her ; but she had the advantage of a wind- 
ward position, hence no unusual effort was made to 
communicate with her. That she recognized us as a 
man-of-war seems quite likely ; but whether she was busy 
at the time overhauling some enemy to windward of her- 
self, and consequently below our horizon, or what not, 
we never knew. Upon going into Bahia a few days after 
to land our passengers, we had a telegram from Pernam- 
buco, stating the Florida had just arrived to land prisoners 
and coal ship. I have frequently since twitted one or two 
of the officers of the Florida with sighting us, and taking 
advantage of the weather-gage to run away. But my fun 
was understood. They stated afterwards that they did 
not recognize us. We are now in the country of the 
ward-room (that is the mess-room proper) wanderers and 
tramps, no staterooms to loaf and sleep in, and the ward- 
room floor for a bunk. The ladies, bless their sweet hearts, 
are desirable company at all times and all places with but 
few exceptions ; one of the exceptions is the crowded 
ward-room of a man-of-war. I often had the thought pre- 
sent itself, in this situation, what would become of these 
women if we should get alongside of an enemy's cruiser. 
We are now heading under full sail for the coast of 
Brazil, and from the steady course given the officer of the 
deck, not deviated from except to note the rig and nation- 
ality of a passing sail, feel sure we are bound for Bahia. 
Perhaps there may be some surprise that I speak of the 
officers as only surmising where the ship is going. But it 
is a fact, reader, never during the cruise did any soul on 
board (to my knowledge) receive information respecting 
her destination, present or future. As sailing-master, 
determining and picking off the position of the ship on 



112 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

the chart from day to day, I could often make a reasonably 
close guess as to the objective point. But in answer to 
the question from my brother officers, as to where we were 
bound, my answer had always to be that I could only 
guess. If a still tongue makes a wise head, our skipper 
was a Solomon or two. The wind is light again, and ship 
jogging along. A strange sight now, the deck of the 
Alabama. It is early evening. Ladies are gracing its 
promenades, and the hush incident to strict discipline is 
broken by the gentle laughter of the new, and to us 
strange companions. They have recovered from the ex- 
citement and fright of the capture, have learned that the 
supposed shot sent after their vessel was an innocent 
blank cartridge, and are reassured and fast becoming soci- 
able. One of them soon lays a grievance before me. 
Among the nautical instruments removed from the prizes 
was a pair of opera or sea-glasses which she claimed as 
private property, and learning they were under my charge 
asked that they be restored. The matter was referred to 
the captain, and they were promptly returned. A number 
of our ward-room mess, the writer included, were rather 
surprised the day after our arrival at Bahia by the receipt 
of a nicely perfumed note from the fair party, containing 
an invitation to a dejeuner a la fourchctte at the hotel on 
shore. The occasion was one of real pleasure, and marked 
an episode in our eventful lives. So it may be suspected 
that some sly fellow of our mess had been exchanging soft 
glances over the mess-table, or abaft the wheel, behind the 
back of the officer of the deck; We had the other side of 
the matter to look upon for variety. An Irish stewardess 
was brought on board from one of the prizes, and sad to 
relate, a little "how came you so." This charmer was 
given a free ride over the side, it being necessary to rig a 
"whip" from the yard-arm for her accommodation. She 
was particularly severe upon our gallant though modest 



WE ENTER THE PORT OF BAHIA 113 

commander, applying to him epithets of so emphatic a 
character that we omit them mostly, but " pirate, rebel, 
freebooter," etc., were the mild ones. 

Standing to the south and westward, still with light 
airs, and weather fine. The deck reminds one of an emi- 
grant vessel, our prisoners, some under the awning spread 
for them, and others in the open, sleeping quietly, having 
adapted themselves to the sudden change of surroundings. 
The ladies have retired to the ward-room, " and all the air 
a solemn stillness holds." It is near eight bells of the mid- 
night watch. The officer of the deck is on the horse- 
block, one leg easing the other by turns, elbow resting on 
the hammock-rail, trumpet in hand, and night-glasses near. 
The quartermaster with folded arm is " conning " the 
man at the wheel, and from time to time shifting the quid 
in his mouth. The slow turning of the spokes of the 
wheel conveys the fact that the wind is steady, and but 
little effort required to keep the ship on her course. A 
gentle heave in of the topsails as we roll to leeward, hints 
to you the lightness of the breeze. Nothing breaks the 
quiet, but occasionally the strike of the bell, and the cry 
from the lookout accompanying, " Starboard cat-head ! " 
" Starboard quarter ! " or the opposite. 
• If there is a place on earth where communication with 
one's thoughts is especially apt to master one's senses, it 
is the deck of a ship in the quiet mid-watch, upon a calm, 
still night. Jack is coiled up under the weather bulwarks, 
dreaming perhaps of days long gone by, when a little 
"tot" he was the idol of his island home, naught crossing 
his childhood path to bring a tear — all sunshine. The 
love for mother dear, long since dead, sends memories 
flitting through the uneasy brain ; and as remembrances of 
her love, since outraged and crucified by a life of way- 
wardness and dissipation, stride in vivid reality upon him, 
he starts, sighs, and turns uneasily on the deck. What 



114 TW0 YEARS OJV THE ALABAMA 

experiences the floating home of the sailor keeps hidden 
away ! Could the tale of each and every one of these 
gallant — perhaps wayward — fellows be unveiled, what a 
romance ! what a revelation ! what a tragedy ! And the 
best of us has enough to reflect upon in the presence of 
night and silence upon the great deep. 

We have reached the month of May, and captured and 
burned a few days since the whaler Nye of New Bed- 
ford, and clipper ship Dorcas Prince of New York, coals for 
Shanghai. To-day, May 3, we have unusual luck, cap- 
turing first the clipper ship Union Jack, Boston to 
Shanghai. We hastily threw a prize-crew on board of 
her, the lookout having another American-rigged sail well 
in sight. Within two hours we have fastened our talons 
into the clipper ship Sea Lark, New York to San Fran- 
cisco — both with general cargoes of high value. Quick 
work. These captures are made in a fine, smashing 
"trade." Both prizes have numerous articles, manifested 
in cargo, needed for our ship's use. We lay, hove-to, 
near them for some hours, breaking out cargo, and cover- 
ing the ocean for miles with a miscellaneous assortment of 
boxes, bales, and cases, containing articles of great value 
in the aggregate, but of no use to us, and cast on the 
waters as being in the way of the despoilers, delving 
under hatches to fill an order received from our paymaster, 
maybe for soap, candles, or some other stores invaluable 
to us, but of trifling pecuniary worth. In the meantime 
we have sent to the Alabama, from the two prizes, with 
our compliments, a colony of one hundred or more souls 
to be cared for, which, with the crews of the Nye and 
Dorcas Prince, means crowded spar-deck and mess- 
quarters. Included in the shipment is a consul bound to 
China, and quite a number of ladies. We can, from the 
deck of the Sea Lark, study, in fancy, the lugubrious 
countenances of our swell lieutenants as they peer over 



BAHIA 1 1 5 

our gangway and detect the crinoline coming alongside. 
It means to them, they are to empty, for the use of the 
ladies, or lock up, their bureau drawers, and join the jun- 
iors of the "country," who have no staterooms, in ham- 
mocks. The dear girls have engaged the best rooms. 
Get your tin basin and camp-stool ready now, fastidious 
lieutenants, and pray for fair winds and a port close 
aboard. The writer, although a looker-on from afar, may 
be one of the lugubrious victims, and may find upon his 
return to the Alabama, weary and pining for his bunk, 
some most necessary of his toilet articles chucked in a 
corner awaiting him, and, upon visiting his stateroom, the 
exclamation thrust upon him on finding a pretty girl in 
possession, doing up her hair, " Oh ! beg your pardon ! 
but you are quite welcome. Make yourself at home." 
Now, gentle reader, you must determine for yourself in 
these remarks of the lieutenant, the amount of sincerity to 
be allowed this "forced volunteer," as Pat would put it. 
But candidly, we willingly accept the temporary incon- 
venience in exchange for the refreshing presence of bright 
eyes and smiling faces, an oasis in the desert of our sur- 
roundings. 

We enter the port of Bahia to-day (May 11, 1863), and 
a beautiful harbor it is. The city is snugly embosomed 
in handsome trees on the side of a hill. The deep green 
of the tropical foliage contrasts sharply with the snow- 
white houses. The water-front is lined with warehouses. 
As usual, the first matter to dispose of is the landing of 
the prisoners. This has been accomplished, and they 
are safe under the official wings of the American con- 
sul. We need no coal, having just filled our bunkers at 
the islands, and so amusement and sight-seeing is to be 
the order of our stay. Our crew are allowed liberty in 
watches, and soon the streets of the town are enlivened 
with the bright uniforms of officers and men. At every 



Il6 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

turn we are "the observed of all observers," shopkeepers 
leaving their yardsticks and measures, clerks their desks, 
ladies shyly peeping through the lattices of the ver- 
andas, and the more enthusiastic flirting their handker- 
chiefs. We had a slight diplomatic muddle soon after 
anchoring, in relation to our recent visit to Fernando de 
Naronha ; the president of this Province thinking we had 
been too careless with international law, — bringing our 
prize into Brazilian waters, coaling ship from her, and 
then towing to sea and burning her. But we could claim 
the permission of the governor of the island as sufficient 
excuse for our action. He was the proper person to 
answer for it, and shoulder the responsibility. However, 
his error was quite overlooked, and ours forgiven. We 
had the pleasure of attending a ball given in our honor by 
Mr. Ogilvie, an English merchant, which was honored by 
the presence of the elite of the town, and at which we 
danced and flirted until the "wee sma hours of the morn," 
carrying on board with us no few souvenirs of the charm- 
ing evening, many of which survived to the day of the 
fight off Cherbourg. W T e had a surprise in store. In the 
early morn a man-of-war steamer was observed at anchor 
near us. She had arrived during the night. You may 
imagine our astonishment when she exchanged the same 
colors with us. Rare flag to see in this region. It was 
the Confederate States steamer Georgia, Capt. Lewis F. 
Maury. She had made port for coal and provisions. It 
was a joyous reunion for many of our officers ; Chapman 
and Evans, who were serving on board of her as lieuten- 
ants, having made the cruise in the Sumter with Semmes, 
Kell, Armstrong, Wilson, Gait, Howell, Freeman, O'Brien, 
Brooks, Cummings, Cuddy, Mecaskey, Robinson, and Smith 
of our ship. Pleasure parties on shore and on the two 
ships result ; and, with the attentions of our foreign friends, 
time flies swiftly. We learn while here of the arrival of 




Midshipman E. Anderson Maffitt 



B A Iff A 117 

Confederate States steamer Florida at Pernambuco. We 
can straighten up now and put on airs, boast of the " Con- 
federate squadron of the South American station," and 
await the arrival of any vessel of the enemy's navy in per- 
fect security. Herein the ludicrous side of the picture pre- 
sents itself. The Alabama is supposed to be dodging the 
United States cruisers ; yet now the Georgia is in port 
with us, and the Florida within telegraphic communication 
and two days steaming, it would be tough luck for the 
enemy should one of his cruisers happen to stumble in. 
We cannot avoid the feeling of pride and satisfaction that 
our struggling little Confederacy has actually been able to 
overmatch the enemy in cruisers, at least for the time 
being, and put them on the defensive so far as the Bra- 
zilian coast goes. We were much gratified that the fact 
was commented on by both the Brazilian and English 
naval officers. It was at this time that our hopes for 
foreign intervention were brightest, and it pleased us that 
the South was presenting no mean showing in the cruiser 
line. The attentions and willingness of Brazilian officials 
to grant our requests was no doubt due in a measure to 
the fact that the favors asked for were backed by plenty 
of heavy guns. Through all time nothing is so successful 
as success, which always commands respect. 1 

1 Later on this port is the scene of a desperate and determined attack of the 
enemy on one of our cruisers. The Florida had put into Bahia for coal and re- 
freshments ; and feeling the neutrality of the port a thorough protective and safeguard, 
her captain, Charles Manigault Morris, gave liberty to his men, and with a number 
of his officers, was also on shore. In the night the United States steamer Wachusett, 
advised by the American consul as to particulars, steamed alongside the partially 
helpless vessel, boarded, and passing a hawser, towed her to sea. At the time of the 
attack the officers and crew on her were principally asleep below, and one would sup- 
pose, under the circumstances, the resistance would have been feeble; yet the writer 
learned from several officers of the Florida present, and captured at the time, that 
the resistance was stubborn, and most creditable to the defenders. The Florida was 
taken to Hampton Roads, Va., and accidentally sunk by collision, thus preventing 
her return intact to the waters of Brazil, and restoration to her own sovereignty 
which had been acquiesced in by the United States government. An apology and 
salute to the Brazilian flag followed, and there the matter ended. 



I 1 8 TWO YEARS OiV THE ALABAMA 

Our men have behaved well on shore, seeming to have 
made up their minds to wipe out the recollection of their 
late hilarity at Martinique and Kingston, and enjoying 
rather sight-seeing on the promenades and in the attrac- 
tive shops. Perhaps their fear of falling into a blissful 
state of oblivion under the influence of John Barleycorn, 
and being left behind, has its weight with them. Our 
crew are sincerely attached to their ship, and justly proud 
of her. 

The advantages of protracted cruises, consequent re- 
moval of all hurtful indulgences, regular hours, generous 
rations, and last but not the least important factor, con- 
stant activity of mind and limb in wofking ship and 
boarding vessels, had brought the condition of the ship 
up to a standard difficult to equal, almost impossible to 
excel. 

We have not so many visitors to the ship at Bahia as 
at Martinique or Kingston. Probably the absence of curi- 
osity to see the ship is the result of general indifference 
to all surroundings peculiar to this race. But in time we 
have squeezed all there is of pleasure from this incident 
of our cruise, and must up anchor and away to the work. 
Overhauling and burning vessels has passed out of the 
category of excitement, and become an every-day matter-of- 
fact business. The sight of a whale or school of porpoises 
at play, the chance of striking the latter, produces more 
excitement and comment than the cry, " Sail ho ! " from 
aloft. Evans is not of the same importance as for- 
merly ; indeed, it is not infrequent, upon the report that the 
strange sail is " Yank," to hear a growl go up, " D— n 
the sail ; I wish the fellow was Dutch ! What are you 
monkeying aloft for, Evans ? Why don't you let the mast- 
head lookout attend to his business, and you go below and 
read your book ! " Verily a luff alongside of an enemy's 
cruiser might be of service, awaking the senses and stir- 



HOW THE ALABAMA RECOUPED HERSELF I 1 9 

ring the blood, and we were never better prepared for 
one. 

It has so often been asked the writer how the Alabama 
recouped herself in stores, and how she managed as to 
funds or credit, that an explanation may be in order and 
prove interesting. The credit of the Confederate Govern- 
ment, based upon its cotton purchased and shipped per 
blockade-runners, was upon a more solid foundation abroad 
that even that of the enemy based upon promises to pay 
(greenbacks). Our commander was clothed with authority 
to draw bills on Liverpool to the extent of his require- 
ments, and never during our cruise was there the slightest 
hesitancy on the part of merchants or others in accepting 
Semmes's " sterling bills " on England, though amounting 
generally to about ten thousand dollars at each coaling-port. 
A considerable sum in gold was also at all times kept in the 
strong box for emergencies, and tendered in payment of 
ship's bills if wanted ; but invariably it was refused, mer- 
chants preferring the more convenient form of "bills." 
Indeed, the credit of the Alabama was, as they have it in 
commercial parlance, "Ai." The stock of gold on hand 
at the end of the cruise was much larger than at the out- 
set, being recruited by sale of the prize Sea Bride and 
cargo, 1 and also by smaller sums secured from prizes at 
sundry times. 

We are at once, after leaving port, in the track of both 
outward and homeward bound vessels, and the cry of " Sail 
ho ! " is frequent ; but the spyglass of our expert seldom 
eliminates an American. It is the latter part of May 
before the enemy is rendered poorer at our hands. With 
a fresh breeze we are well in the "trades." We approach 
the two vessels, reported from aloft as "game," at a sharp 
angle, not a dead stern chase ; and after some hours 
crowding of sail bring them within the sight and sound 

1 At Angra Pequena, in the latter part of August. 



120 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

of a blank cartridge. Luffing up, and bringing their main- 
topsails to the mast, they prove the ships Gilderslieve 
and Justina, the former of New York, the latter of Bal- 
timore. The first was burned, the latter released under 
ransom bond. This is the first vessel we have captured 
hailing from Baltimore, and we are overjoyed at being 
able to release her ; for while Maryland had not the chance 
to join her sister States of the South, still her gallant sons 
were breasting the fight on Virginia soil. The prisoners 
as usual are put on board of the bonded vessel, and again 
our decks are free and clear. 

Boarding vessels is heavy work in these fresh " trades," 
blowing at times a full gale of wind, and dangerous work 
too. It seems almost a miracle that we escape all acci- 
dent, engaged as we are both by day and night in this risky 
business. At times it is so rough that the boarding-boat 
alongside the prize lifts on a sea above her spar-deck, and 
descending in the trough, falls far below the copper line. 
The least carelessness or unskilfulness would swamp us. 
The officer is often obliged to reach the deck by an active 
spring from the boat as she rides up on the sea. The 
return from the prize to the boat is even more hazardous 
than the boarding, and the transfer of the prisoners, if pos- 
sible, more delicate still. 

But it has become a mere routine matter. We some- 
times at night, the cover of darkness preventing the 
recognition of the rig, give chase to a vessel in a strong 
breeze. The watch on duty are constantly kept at it by 
the officer of the deck, bracing up a yard a pull or two, or 
hoisting a topsail to a taut leach in the hopes of getting 
an extra half-knot out of our racer. Blank cartridges are 
also called into requisition, and may be a shot or shell. 
The intimation at the breakfast-table next morning that 
a vessel had been overhauled, boarded, and burned during 
the night, and numerous guns fired to heave her to, would 



PL A YING HOST A GAIN 1 2 1 

be received with surprise and sometimes doubt by the 
" idlers " of the mess, until verified by the appearance on 
deck of the prisoners in the weather waist. 

We are now near the first summer month, or rather, in 
this latitude, winter month, and but two prizes captured, 
and only one burned since leaving Bahia. " Sail ho ! " 
here she comes, borne over the blue waters by the glori- 
ous "trades." Again is our scout Evans a prophet; and 
after a long chase the hint sent over the waters is heeded, 
and the graceful model luffs up in the wind, and awaits 
the arrival of the boarding-officer. The vessel proves 
the Jabez Snow of Bucksport, Me. ; a clipper-ship, grace- 
ful as a swan on the water, and with her snow-white can- 
vas and long, taut skysail masts a thing of beauty. 
Well, the match-safe is brought into requisition, and away 
she goes, less a quantity of ship-stores and her chronom- 
eter and flag. We are again playing host, and have a 
small colony on deck in the way of prisoners. The 
weather being fine, the quartermaster has broken out his 
signal lockers, and is airing his signal flags, — the captured 
ensigns as well, — and such a sight ! A stranger happen- 
ing on our deck, and in ignorance of the character of the 
ship, would be puzzled to account for this display. Most 
likely in the absence of explanation the idea might pre- 
sent itself to him, that the skipper is a monomaniac on 
the subject of United States flags, much as persons are 
in the accumulation of postage-stamps or other odds and 
ends. We might have supplied the entire United States 
navy, without exaggeration ; and as for quadrants and 
sextants, even Jack can be seen forward at mid-day, in- 
strument in hand, " taking the sun " for the benefit of 
the forecastle. Some days again pass without a " bite," 
naught but neutrals, though the gallant " trades " are 
bringing them to us and we to them by the scores. At 
last ! Here we are ! " Sail ho ! " " Where away ? " from 



122 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

the deck. " On the lee-bow ! On the starboard tack ! " 
The sail is approaching us. No occasion for Evans aloft, 
however, for she has " gone in stays," and is soon running 
away, evidently suspicious of a vessel under low canvas 
in the glorious trades, where if a fellow were not the " fly- 
ing Dutchman," and bound everywhere and nowhere at 
the same time, he would be a mass of canvas alow and 
aloft, speeding along at best. This sail gives us a long 
chase, and is only overhauled after repeated warnings 
in the way of blank cartridges, and finally the ominous 
screech of a rifle-shell. The wind has been strong, neces- 
sitating, as usual, a long chase, and, as usual, working " Old 
Beeswax" into a temper, which later will expend itself on 
the unfortunate skipper of the prize, if not in a manner 
serious, at least facetious ; for Semmes sometimes lets off 
the explosion in some such words as, " Well, Captain ! so 
you wanted to be unsociable ! Didn't want to call to see 
me ! Well, never mind, I've come to you. By the way, 
Captain, you had probably forgotten my ' little tea-kettle ' 
below, where I get my hot water. No use, skipper — run- 
ning. Steam will fetch you when canvas fails." The 
screech of the rifle-shell seeming to say, " Where are you ? 
where are you?" has had its effect; and the vessels are 
within a stone's throw of each other, motionless, held in 
by the backing of the after sail. Speculation is rife as to 
whether neutral cargo or otherwise. Our sea-lawyer will 
soon settle this point, for here comes the boarding-master 
back, with the skipper of our victim bringing along the 
vessel's papers. The suspense is soon over, and we need 
not ask any questions. The visiting captain is making no 
motion to leave the side of our ship as he comes up the 
companion ladder from the cabin, minus his ship's pa- 
pers, and Fulham returns to the prize with orders to ap- 
ply the torch. She is the barque Amazonian of Boston 
for Montevideo. Some queer pranks are cut up now on 



STREWING THE SEA WITH TIANOS 1 23 

board of the captured vessel. We are in need of small 
stores, soap, candles, etc., and the articles are described 
by the first mate of the prize as being under such and 
such cargo. Overboard go pianos, pier-glasses, cases of 
fine boots and shoes, etc., articles of high value, for what ? 
Why, to get a few boxes of soap, of more value to us 
at present than all the pianos in Boston. It frequently 
reminded me of the soliloquy of Robinson Crusoe upon 
finding in the cabin of his wreck an assortment of garden- 
seed. There is much of apparent vandalism in this whole- 
sale destruction of beautiful articles, monuments of man's 
ingenuity and skill. Oh ! war is the most deplorable mis- 
fortune that can overtake a people, and senseless in that 
the final arrangement has to be reached after all by peace- 
ful methods. We have transferred the crew of the Ama- 
zonian, relieved her of such stores as were needed in our 
several departments, applied the torch, and are now stand- 
ing along under reduced sail in the strong breeze. We 
are lucky again in finding the captain of a British brig 
willing to take our prisoners to port. So paroling them, 
and transferring the necessary provisions for their care, 
and rewarding her captain in kind, we fill away, our decks 
clear of alien people once again. 

Boarding neutrals again the order of the night. In- 
cessant work now. We are in the most fashionable 
highway of commerce on the globe, and are beginning 
to realize how swiftly the carrying-trade of the world 
is slipping away from the United States, and casting its 
responsibilities on the shoulders of John Bull and other 
peacefully disposed nationalities. Still we get a prize 
now and then, just to keep our hands in. " Sail ho ! " 
We are under low canvas, and she is approaching us rap 
idly, but smelling a rat, refuses our blank cartridge, and 
passes on. We are in the race-saddle at once after her. 
She answers to the second gun, and " heaves to," show- 



124 TW0 YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

ing her colors without hesitation, knowing well her doom 
is sealed. She proves the clipper-ship Talisman, from 
New York for Shanghai. Her cargo being per manifest 
American property, she is condemned ; and prisoners, nau- 
tical instruments, and needed stores removed, she is com- 
mitted to the flames. We secured from this vessel two 
twelve-pounder brass guns, with fixed ammunition to suit. 
At the time it was the subject of much comment what 
use these could possibly be put to. Semmes had an idea 
in connection with this find, though he kept his own 
counsel ; like Mrs. Toodles's coffin-plate, these things will 
come handy by and by. 

We run through the "trades," and are having variable 
winds, still boarding numbers of neutrals, and otherwise 
keeping busy, particularly in making the ship snug for 
bad weather. We are about to stretch over for the Cape 
of Good Hope, a long, dreary road, and shall soon be out 
of the way of commerce until we reach the pitch of the 
Cape. Albatross and gulls are putting in an appearance, 
which gives us hints of overcoats and pea-jackets, and to 
Jack, notice that snoozing under the weather bulwarks on 
watch at night will soon be among the things of the past. 
We are just about ready for a long interregnum of board- 
ing ships, and settling down to yarn-spinning, draughts, 
etc., pending the harvest of captures anticipated off the 
Cape, when, " Sail ho ! " and we know the stranger is 
American, her long tapering masts and flaring bow telling 
the tale before her ensign is hoisted to the peak. She 
proved the barque Conrad of Philadelphia, for New York 
from Buenos Ayres, with wool. A lawful prize. A more 
beautiful specimen of an American clipper could not be 
produced, — new, well-found, and fast, and, being barque- 
rigged, easy to handle with a small crew. Semmes de- 
termined to fit her out as a temporary cruiser. We had 
now a use for the guns captured on the ship Talisman, 




<v - 



Midshipman E. Maffit Anderson 



COMMISSIONING THE TUSCALOOSA 1 25 

— two brass twelve-pounders, battery enough to tackle 
the heaviest merchant-ship, even with a crew inferior in 
numbers. These guns transferred to the Conrad and 
mounted in battery, Lieut. John Low was assigned the 
command, with Midshipman Wm. H. Sinclair as first 
lieutenant, under an acting commission from Semmes. 
Twelve men were selected for the crew of the new ship, 
to be the Confederate States cruiser Tuscaloosa. Henry 
Marmelstein second officer, Jas. F. Minor third officer 
(watch officers) ; Henry Legris, Edwin Jones, Wm. Rin- 
ton, Robt. P. Williams, Thos. Williams, Martin Molk, 
Sam. Brown, Robt. Owens, Thos. I. Altman, John Dug- 
gan. All is now ready for the christening ; but this is so 
simple you would hardly suspect it a ceremony of such 
deep importance. A short document had been penned 
by Semmes, and handed the future commander of the 
Tuscaloosa, 1 simple, yet of grave import. It was no 
less than a license to roam the seas, sink, burn, and 
destroy — and all in due form of law. A legal docu- 
ment none had the right to gainsay. What a vast power 
to place in the hands of any one man. Truly we may 
say the power of the commander of a man-of-war in 
times of war is the embodiment of President and Con- 

1 Thus in twelve short hours we have commissioned, armed, officered, and pro- 
visioned another engine of war, and have thrust her out on her pilgrimage of 
destruction. Evening is now on us, the Tuscaloosa lost to us on the vast deep, 
and as we gather about the " bridge," and the glee-club forms its circle for song, we 
first begin to miss the bright, cheery face of our tenor, Mid Sinclair, and later on, 
as the night-watches pass, the strong, firm countenance of our late watch relief, 
Lieutenant Low. A gloom pervades the ship somewhat akin to that experienced 
when death has strode into your midst. It is by no means an exultant feeling that 
catches hold of our mess-mates, as they gather to-night about the mess-table. We 
appreciate that we have sent abroad a most insignificant representative on the 
ocean, — one that, with a prize crew on an enemy's deck, has left the bantam cruiser 
quite helpless. Our grave fears seem almost a forecast of facts to be. We can only 
record the Tuscaloosa's cruise barren of results, our ship crippled in numbers, 
and her officers and crew denied the opportunity of participation in the Alabama's 
glorious future career — a disappointment none but a naval man can fully appre- 
ciate. 



126 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

gress. Is it any wonder the simple children of the 
ocean — our crew — should look up to Semmes as an 
(almost) emperor ? 

The Tuscaloosa runs the colors of the Republic to the 
peak, the pennant to the mainmast head. The crew of 
the Alabama man the rigging and cheer, the crew of 
the fledgling answer, and we have a new instrument 
of destruction afloat on the 21st day of June, 1863. 
Both vessels fill away, and are soon lost to each other 
in the waste of waters. What rapid changes ! We are 
now ready for our cruise off the Cape, and are fortunate, 
in our daily boarding of neutrals, to find a vessel willing 
to take our prisoners to the Brazilian coast. Our decks 
are again clear, and we settle to the daily round of duties. 
Our worthy captain's secretary, Mr. W. B. Smith, will 
now for a time be continually sought out for reading- 
matter by the officers and crew. He has charge of the 
library of the ship, and dull, uneventful days are ahead 
of us, stretching over for South Africa outside the beaten 
track of vessels ; the return India and China traders round- 
ing the Cape, and with the wind right astern making their 
way homeward via the historic Island of St. Helena, which 
they all sight if possible for a new "departure." The 
discovery has just been made after cutting adrift from 
the Brazilian coast that our ship's supply of hardbread 
has been attacked by the weevil and rendered useless. 
It being out of the question to continue our cruise with- 
out a fresh supply, the ship's head is turned for the near 
coast again. We soon find ourselves in the " variables ; " 
and as the name indicates, we are recipients of all sorts 
of weather — much such as Mark Twain describes New 
England weather, thirty kinds in twenty-four hours, and 
" a great deal of it." 

It is now the close of June ; many, many neutrals 
boarded, but no prize ; nor do we seem likely to get that 



VOYAGE TO THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE \2J 

ship's-bread wanted but by a visit to Rio de Janeiro. 
" Sail ho ! " and at last an American hull in sight. Chase 
is given in earnest, the stranger not liking the appearance 
of things, and crowding sail. She refuses the order of a 
blank cartridge, and continues obstinate, hoping some 
lucky turn may come in the way of a thick squall passing 
and shutting her in. But we are gaining on her rapidly ; 
and after tiring of her obstinacy, being in a hurry to 
reach the coast and port, a hundred-pounder rifle-shell is 
sent on a message to her, about three miles distant. As 
usual, the hint is taken, and the enemy luffs to the wind, 
and backing her after-sail, hoists her colors to the peak, 
and awaits events. We have an ugly sea on to board in, 
but the vessel is reached in safety. Her captain coming 
on board with his papers, it is soon assured that she is a 
prize, —ship Anna F. Schmidt, from Boston to San Fran- 
cisco, and has amongst her cargo the very description of 
bread we want, and are on our way to Rio for, also the 
most welcome item of boots and shoes. In short, the 
cargo is a general one — just what we should have re- 
quested our Boston friends to put on board had we known 
they were sending to interview us. Such a looting as 
now goes on, and throwing overboard of articles — with 
utter disregard of value — which happen to be in the way 
of our search. We are breaking out the hold to get at 
the much-needed ship's-bread. Officers and men are also 
badly in need of shoes, and next Sunday all hands may 
appear at muster with fine new calfskin adorning their 
pedal extremities. The Schmidt is looted with an indus- 
try commensurate with our delight. The ocean is fairly 
covered with floating wealth ; that is, from a money 
standpoint, though it is as valueless to us as so much gulf- 
weed. We remove prisoners, chronometers, and flags, 
and apply the match, turning our head to the eastward 
again. A sudden change of destination for the officers 



128 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

and crew of the now burning ship. But lately bound to 
San Francisco, and now to Cape Town. 

During the night we make a fine taut ship, standing to 
the N.E. and having the appearance of an American 
clipper, as well as we could judge through the darkness. 
Steam is given the ship, and we fairly fly after her, canvas 
assisting. It was a beautiful sight, the race of two grey- 
hounds of the ocean. It proves a long chase, though we 
overhaul her not slowly, but at best a stern chase is a long 
one. All things have an end, and this may be the end of 
us. We are now close enough to discover in the sail a 
heavy man-of-war, and as always happens in such cases, we 
both beat to quarters. She had made us out a cruiser. 
Our suspense was short. Upon being hailed, she reported 
herself H. B. M. S. Diomede, homeward bound to Plym- 
outh. Through the trumpet comes the query from him, 
" I suppose that is some of your work ? " alluding to the 
burning prize in the distance, " I saw you leaving her." 
Offers to take a mail for us, which was declined with 
thanks; we only desire to be reported "all well." We 
dropped astern of the Diomede ; she was soon lost to 
sight. Hoisting propeller, and letting steam go down, 
we are again on our way to the Cape. 

Several days go by without event of moment, vessels 
passing, but neutral. Just as we are again departing from 
the track of commerce, a sail is made from the mast-head, 
pronounced by Evans, " Yank," and no doubt. It re- 
quired a succession of reminders in the way of blank car- 
tridges, and finally the never-failing persuader, before she 
would luff up to the strong breeze. You can't but admire 
the pluck and never-say-fail disposition of the American 
skipper. So long as there is the least chance he holds 
on. You cannot tell : a United States cruiser may put in 
an appearance, or a friendly rain-squall shut him in, or the 
pursuer lose a mast in the strong breeze under a press of 



JACK AS A PUPIL 129 

canvas. Often the unexpected happens, so he trusts and 
hopes. The sail, upon examination of papers, proves the 
clipper-ship Empress of Boston, from Callao to Antwerp. 
She is condemned, and her officers and crew being re- 
moved, with such stores as we can find use for, the torch 
is applied ; the last boat leaving her with one more chro- 
nometer for the sailing-master to care for and wind up. 

We are now considerably crowded and inconvenienced 
with prisoners. It is impossible to make them decently 
comfortable in such weather as we are having, for it is the 
dead of winter. And they are in the way of working ship 
and washing decks. As to other work, it is not even at- 
tempted ; which, by the way, is decidedly a compensation 
to Jack for the inconvenience of crowded decks. It is all 
dog-watch. There is an occasional exception, due to the 
sense of parental obligation. The group referred to is 
seated in a convenient spot under the weather bulwarks, 
the younger faces more or less lugubrious, the elder reflec- 
tive, and yet beaming with that spontaneous benevolence 
which is such a reward to the possessor. The sea-father 
is teaching his bantling to make sennit-hats, to point 
ropes, tie matthew-walker, diamond, or other knots useful 
in nautical life, and his delight in the occupation is evi- 
dently in direct proportion to the thick-headedness of the 
pupil ; for the delay in realizing results considerably en- 
hances the triumph when it does come ; and the pleasure, 
after all, is not in the accomplishment, but in its ardent 
pursuit. The little chap, as a rule, is not ardent, but 
decidedly reluctant ; this only enhances Jack's sense of 
responsibility, and gives opportunity for exercise of his 
talent as a lecturer and disciplinarian, which gives variety 
to the occupation. The youngster finds something in it 
at the end, unless he is especially unlucky, either in the 
way of pleasure or pain. His reward may be a bunch 
of raisins, or it may be a taste of the "kitten," which 



130 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

is not, on the whole, any great improvement on the sor- 
rows of pupilage. But when the feat is accomplished, 
the small chap finds lots of fun in it, and soon becomes 
proficient through his disposition to show off among his 
own sort. 

Farther aft, in the waist, there is fun of another sort, 
but as certainly it has its victim. Somebody is badger- 
ing Evans, possibly Fulham, whose hard service is largely 
built on Evans's prophesying. The middies are repre- 
sented pretty fully in this case. Maffitt, with mild, obser- 
vant blue eye, and those incipient side whiskers — very 
English " don't yer know " — which he is perpetually pet- 
ting with one hand or the other ; Anderson, professedly 
scornful of such facial ornaments, but none the less 
a notable dandy, who is Semmes's reliance when we have 
to board a ship with lady passengers to be soothed and 
reassured, and has reached the dignity of officer of the 
forecastle ; and then, by way of contrast, boatswain's mate 
Brosman, with a skin like a shark, and a quid in his jaw 
that has to be kept carefully to windward in a squall ; 
or Johnson, of similar rank, who restively strokes his 
luxuriant beard, like a pacha impatient to sentence his 
latest favorite to the sack, only restrained by deference 
to superiors from drawing upon himself the full blaze 
of ire which Fulham has aroused. But whoever may 
be for the nonce of the party, there has been no trouble 
about starting the fun. As usual, the only thing neces- 
sary is to express a doubt of Evans's infallibility in the 
matter of spotting Yankee ships. It makes no difference 
that the scene has been played before fifty or a hundred 
times. There is no such thing as joking with Evans 
on this subject. Start it when you will, and he is mad 
in a minute. But for their own satisfaction the jokers 
vary the style of attack. The assertion has just taken 
effect that there is evidence enough of his errors among 



JOKING WITH EVANS 131 

the officers, though " Old Beeswax " has become fatuous 
in his confidence. 

" I'll b-b-bet two sovs n-not one man here can p-p-prove 
a single mistake on me ! " stutters Evans, too much ex- 
cited to control his utterance. 

" Done ! " shouts Maffitt, who has been waiting his 
chance ; " but what's the use of putting up on a fact 
that everybody . knows ? I say, Evans, you may as well 
come down gracefully, you know. Once in a way you can 
hit it off, and the rest of the time all you have to do is to 
say ' Neutral ' and let it go so. Almost any of us could 
do that." 

"Just tell me when I ever made a mistake!" foams 
Evans. " J-j-just one single time ! I defy you t-t-to ! " 

Fulham calls order, and after a little more solemn chaff, 
cites the case of a Nova Scotia barque that once on a time 
Evans said was a " Yank," while King, who was quizzing 
her through his glass, had pronounced her British. 

"That all came of King's d d foolishness," shouts 

Evans, infuriated at what he conceives to be the stupidity 
of his tormentors. " Everybody knows that a Province 
ship has the rig and cut of a Yankee, and if King had 
known anything, he would never have said she was 
British ! " 

" All the same," persists Fulham, " I understand from 
Anderson that ' Old Bim ' is seriously thinking of sending 
you back into your watch, and letting King do the scouting 
in future. Seems to be getting onto your lines. You'd 
better look sharp ! " 

This finishes Evans, who is just able to stagger out of 
the crowd, which by this time is laughing without re- 
straint. He is only able to mutter as he retires, " When 

Old Bim puts that d d shoal-water coast pilot in the 

cross-trees, you can have all my share of the prize-money 
he brings you for a five-pound note ! " 



I32 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

This makes tame enough reading ; but to those who saw 
this stalwart giant under the "kidding" of his messmates, 
the memory will always bring a smile. 

The cape-pigeon and albatross now warn us that we are 
approaching the " stormy cape." The flight of these birds 
gives a curious substance and perspective to the blue, cloud- 
flecked sky and huge foam-capped seas of this latitude. 
The idea of vast space is inseparable from the motions of 
the albatross. How effortless and sweeping his flight, 
now up, and now down the gale to the limits of vision, 
and from the utmost distance suddenly returning to a 
position just above the decks, where balanced on his wide, 
snowy pinions, he slowly turns his head from side to side, 
a good deal after the manner of the first luff at inspec- 
tion ; and then, satisfied apparently with our make-up, 
wheels away to the weather-quarter, where he takes posi- 
tion and proceeds to act as escort. He regards us as 
some kind of a cousin, no doubt, and wonders why he 
cannot tempt us to rise and take a flight with him in 
the upper air. But anyway he means to be social. The 
pigeons, on the other hand, do not venture away from the 
stern, once they have got a sight of it, but with their soft, 
plaintive cry circle perpetually from quarter to quarter 
until twelve o'clock comes and the refuse from the galley 
is dumped from the lee-shoot. Then they settle down to 
the feast, and let the ship go on for a while without their 
attendance. But in a very few minutes they have re- 
turned to their play. No trouble to them either to find 
the ship, or to catch her. They are greedy little wretches 
though ; and you can pull them aboard, as indeed you can 
the albatross, by trailing a baited line and hook over the 
stern. Once on deck they cannot rise without a helping 
hand, and they are anything but good sailors on ship- 
board, the motion of the ship making them seasick in 
short order. There is some fun in fishing for them, and 




Engineer William P. Brooks 



OLD OFFICERS' STORIES 1 33 

there is no cruelty in the sport, for the hook does not 
hurt their bony bills. You will notice though, that 
while you keep one of them captive, Jack's lee eye is on 
you. His firm belief is that bad weather and bad luck 
will surely attend the harming of any of these creatures ; 
and you can see, whatever his confidence in your human- 
ity, he feels more comfortable when he sees it back 
again among its mates. 

'They all averred, he'd killed the bird 
That made the winds to blow." 

It is not really essential to bait for the cape-pigeon ; a 
black linen thread from a spool trailed astern will sooner or 
later get him tangled up, wings and feet, so you can haul 
him aboard. Albatross and cape-pigeons are not fair 
weather birds though, by any means. You only see them 
in the region of storm and gale. So by this time we are 
having a touch of cape weather. At the same time, the 
menu at the mess-table is pleasantly varied with the fish 
we catch by trolling. They make a delicious chowder. 

We are having a dull time though, on the whole. 
Gather around the ward-room table, and listen to one of the 
old officers as he relates, to pass the evening away, a few 
of his recollections of past days in the old navy. This 
relater had the advantage of many years' service, and 
knew by heart the jokes on the oldsters of past naval days. 

"Well, it was on an East India cruise. The squadron 
was laying in Yeddo Bay. One of the vessels was com- 
manded by as able an officer and seaman as we had in 
the United States navy, but rather too fond of 'crooking 
his elbow.' The habit was so strong on him, and so widely 
known in the fleet, that it was impossible for the fact not to 
reach the knowledge of the commodore. Our hero was a 
great favorite with him, indeed with all, who admired the 
commander for his many fine personal qualities, and remark- 



134 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

able ability as an officer. Still, the commodore could not 
shut his eyes to the unfortunate failing. He must either 
take official notice of it by preferring charges against the 
offender, or remove him so that he could not see it. His 
regard for his subordinate suggested a method, which ma- 
terialized in an order to proceed to a group of islands some 
hundreds of miles to the southward, and make an extended 
inquiry as to the ' manners and customs of the natives,' 
and make a full report of same ; the idea being that ere 
the commander returned, the squadron would be well on 
its way home. The trip was made, and the sloop returned 
after many months' cruise, but to find the squadron (un- 
fortunately for the commodore) still on the station. There 
can be but little doubt our hero well knew the true intent 
of his banishment and mission, as the following official re- 
port will suggest. ' In obedience to your order of 

date, I have the honor to report : Having visited the south- 
ern group of islands to inquire into the " manners and cus- 
toms " of the natives, I have to submit ; their customs 
are scandalous, and manners — they have none at all. 
Respectfully your Obt. Serv't.' The squadron soon after 
dispersed without this ease taking a serious turn. 

" I can give you another good story on the same com- 
mander," says our yarn-spinner. " The squadron, consist- 
ing of a number of steam-frigates, sailing-sloops, and 
supply-vessels was at anchor. Our hero commanded one 
of the sailing-vessels. A signal was hoisted from the flag- 
ship for the squadron to get up steam, when to the sur- 
prise and indignation of the commodore, at once from the 
mast-head of the sailing-vessel the signal was made out, 
' My steam is up.' Instanter a signal from the flag-ship 
ordered her commander to 'repair on board.' Upon be- 
ing ushered into his presence, the commodore reprimanded 
him quite severely, remarking, ' You are constantly mak- 
ing light of serious matters, sir! Indeed, you are drunk 



OLD OFFICE AS' STORIES I 35 

now, sir.' ' Well, commodore ! ' was the reply, • You 
made signal to — hie ! get up steam, and I did it at once.' " 

" Now give us some yarns of the war of 18 12-18 15." 
"Well, here's a characteristic story on old Hull of frigate 
Constitution memory. Hull was noted for having the bump 
of official economy developed to that degree that it amounted 
to a mania. The first lieutenant of his ship had very fre- 
quently presented, for signature, requisitions for bass-drum 
heads for use of the frigate's band. Hull had conceived 
the idea that a leak existed in this department. Deter- 
mined to satisfy himself, he watched the band closely at 
play. He made the discovery, to his own satisfaction at 
least. Calling the bass-drummer to his side, he inter- 
viewed him as follows : ' You d d scoundrel ! I've 

been watching you closely, and now know why you have 
been making so many requisitions for new drum-heads. 
You keep beating the drum on the same spot in the mid- 
dle. That's why you wear them out so fast ! You beat 
your drum all around the sides in future, or, d — n you, I'll 
give you a dozen of the " cats." ' 

"Another story on old Hull would intimate a lack of mu- 
sic in his soul, however good a fighter he was. He was 
listening to his band playing a difficult piece of music, 
when his attention was all at once riveted on one of the 
musicians, who from time to time ceased to play, and then 
again resumed his part. With an excited air and manner, 
Hull beckoned to the man to approach him, < You, rascal 
you ! ' said Hull ; ' I've been watching you skulking at 
your play ! Now, you go back and play all the time ! I'll 

have no d d skulkers in my band, and if I catch you at 

it again, your grog shall be stopped a week.' " And now 
four bells (ten o'clock p.m.) has sounded. " All lights out," 
and Kell is off to report to the captain, " Ten o'clock, sir, 
and all secure for the night." All but the spar-deck is 
now hushed in silence. 



I36 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER VIII 

SALDANHA BAY ; REPAIRING SHIP ; DEATH OF CUMMINGS J 
CAPTURE OF THE SEA-BRIDE ; RECEPTION AT CAPE 
TOWN ; THE CRUISER VANDERBILT ; NASTY WEATHER. 

It is the latter part of July when we make the land. 
Sails being clewed up and furled, we proceed under steam 
to the anchorage of Saldanha Bay on the west side of the 
coast of Africa, a British possession, about sixty miles from 
Cape Town. We anchor in as beautiful and safe a harbor 
as a sailor could desire. The first thought suggests fresh 
provisions ; and our reliable paymaster Gait soon negotiates 
the arrangements, and the gastronomic longings are satis- 
fied. Beef, mutton, fish, and game are plenty, and the 
latter in great variety, — deer, antelope, pheasant, hare, and 
quail, and on the seashore, snipe, plover, and curlew. In 
the bay we notice wild duck and geese in immense flocks, 
surpassing even the renowned Chesapeake Bay. But the 
romance chiefly lies in the fastnesses of the interior, where 
the lion and tiger may be hunted, and on the plains, 
where the ostrich and spring-bok are to be found in quan- 
tities. Naturally there is much excitement at the prospect 
of unlimited sport with rifles, guns, and fishing-lines ; and 
the sense of full protection from the cruisers of the enemy 
leaves us free to cast aside care, and enter heart and soul 
into the enjoyments of the passing hours. Many are the 
expeditions planned and carried out. In the meantime, 
our commander has communicated with the governor of 
Cape Town, advising him of the arrival of the Alabama in 
British waters, and requesting, as customary, the hospital- 



SALDANHA BAY 1 37 

ities of the colony. A matter of ceremony merely, this ; 
for we had already experienced the hospitality of John 
Bull, and knew we could depend on it. We soon found 
our decks crowded with people from the shore, many of 
them from long distances in the interior. These people had 
heard of the Alabama, and the playful pranks indulged in 
by her on the ocean, and had come, bag, baggage, and 
tents, to make a stay, and see all there was to see. They 
are Dutch, descendants of the first settlers of this portion 
of South Africa, though the colony has long since passed 
into the possession of the English. They are a simple, 
hardy, and brave race, hospitable to a fault. Although 
these people appear on the surface to have accepted the in- 
evitable, — the transfer of their country to British rule, — 
and seem happy and prosperous under the present status, 
it is more than probable, the opportunity presenting itself, 
and England being hard pressed, they would throw their 
strength against their conquerors. In this event they 
would prove troublesome foes, being hardy, brave, and 
superb soldiers. In general physique and bearing they re- 
mind one of the Scottish household troops. 

Long wagon trains followed each other in quick succes- 
sion, coming from interior points to view the remarkable 
ship, visitors tumbling on board in an ever-flowing stream. 
They were in family parties, from the venerable grand- 
father and grandmother to the little tot carried in the 
arms. Verily the farmhouses must have been left to the 
faithful care of the house dog ad interim. Many and 
pressing were their invitations to visit the back country 
with them, and enjoy the chase after big game. They had 
evidently observed our extensive preparations for the 
hunt. Some of our officers accepted and went ; but as we 
saw no evidences of success, in the way of ostrich plumes 
or tiger-skins, upon their return, and as we were op- 
pressed by an ominous silence on their part as to where 



I38 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

the wagons with the game had been left, the rest of us 
contained our eagerness, and satisfied ourselves with more 
modest sport. Our guests were most curious and observant, 
watching each move of our crew engaged in the daily 
routine of duty, and handling each article carefully and 
critically, asking its use, and in the matter of the shot and 
battery, the weight of each, range, etc. ; indeed, it can be 
safely affirmed that upon the return home of these people, 
by comparing notes, all there was to be known of the 
Alabama could be learned in the colony. 

The men are fine, stalwart specimens, dressed princi- 
pally in corduroy knee-breeches and hunting-shirts, hav- 
ing, with their rifles slung over their shoulders and 
hunting-knives in their belts, the appearance rather of pi- 
oneers and hunters than plain farmers from way-back. A 
more frank, open-hearted lot it would be difficult to find. 
Offers pour in fast to guide us to the different hunting- 
grounds, and presents of game brought on board to that 
extent as to amount to surfeit ; indeed, it was everywhere, 
game to shoot, game to receive, but none to purchase. 
We are truly in a land flowing with milk and honey. And 
all this the property of our English cousins, just had for 
the taking. John Bull is a remarkable fellow. Speak of 
the ubiquitous Yankee, he is far in the shade as compared 
with his neighbor over the ocean. It is true he is to be 
found here and there scattered over the earth, but not 
everywhere as is the Englishman. Visit, as we are doing, 
the uttermost parts of the globe, wind with your ship into 
some intricate nook or channel, and behold, upon the flag- 
staff floats that flag ; and investigate farther and you will 
find the land " good to behold," and that Johnny has ap- 
propriated it, or as he puts it, is exercising a fatherly care 
over it, and establishing an outlet for the over-production 
of the Manchester and Oldham mills and foundries. Still, 
none can gainsay that, with an occasional blunder now 



REPAIRING SHIP 1 39 

and then, Johnny is an advantage to the comparatively 
helpless peoples of the world, and improves their condi- 
tion at once on coming into contact with them. His 
method is law, order, conservatism, but trade first and 
last. We must not neglect an introduction to the fair 
lassies of the South African Colony. Buxom they are, 
brown and rosy, and with the assurance in their make-up 
of intimate acquaintance with the flail, churn, and wash- 
tub, yet, moreover, a delightful womanly grace diffusing 
itself through every movement. If our gallants of the 
Alabama prove as apt at carrying hearts by storm as at 
boarding with cutlass, we shall have here prisoners by the 
score. Our lady friends, true to their instincts and taste, 
are carried captive by the neat and orderly appearance of 
the steward's pantry, its complete methods. These mat- 
ters appeal directly to their tastes, and elicit their appro- 
bation. You must know these people have, the large 
majority of them, never visited a ship before, and the 
order and neatness of a well-equipped man-of-war offer 
unusual attractions. No doubt many a suggestion pre- 
sented itself to be imitated in the arrangement of the 
home-pantry of the future. 

We find the bay abundantly supplied with fish, and of 
excellent flavor, having hauled our seine several times and 
tested the matter. But all is not play. Our ship is 
storm-beaten and rusty, wanting paint wherever previously 
applied, decks to be caulked, sails mended, etc. Indeed, 
we may now be said to be in our own private dock-yard, 
and our dock-master Kell is hard at it. No recreation does 
lie indulge in until the work has at least been cut out in 
its entirety, and is well on the way to completion. He is 
ably assisted by the corps of fitters-out in the persons of 
Boatswain Mecaskey, Gunner Cuddy, Sailmaker Alcott, 
and Carpenter Robinson. These gentlemen have advised 
with and worked under the direction of our efficient ex- 



I40 TWO YEARS OJV THE ALABAMA 

ecutive from the fitting-out of the Sumter to date, and 
you will find the Alabama looking like a bride before she 
weighs anchor for Cape Town. It is rarely that a ship 
has such a complete dock-yard within herself, and it ex- 
plains clearly the ability of Semmes to complete a cruise 
of two years, in all climates, and undergoing more wear 
and tear than falls to the lot of most men-of-war in twice 
this time, without once going into a regular dock-yard. 

Jack is having the least fun now, hauling the seine be- 
ing about the only congenial occupation for him. Hunt- 
ing has no charms ; the fatigue incident to heavy hunting 
accoutrements soon brings him " on his beam-ends," and 
he wanders back to his boat the victim of ennui and rest- 
lessness, and glad when time arrives to return on board. 
A sailor, with all the romance of his composition, as a rule, 
fails to appreciate the quiet and calm of rural existence, 
demanding the more exciting presentments of life. There 
is no lively thoroughfare here, no casino, and no tow-boat 
in the way of a sailor boarding-house runner to " steer 
him " to the rum-mill, steep him in oblivion, rob him of 
his floating home, and finally re -ship him, suddenly turn 
his paths in a contrary dir.ection, and open up new scenes 
and strange companions. Such are the delights of the 
sailor's life. 

We are doing rapid work on the repairs to the ship, the 
result in a measure of the apathy of the men as to liberty, 
and we are nearly ready for sea. Our ship, however, is 
to make but a short cruise this time, only as far as Cape 
Town, for coal ; and at same time to pay our respects to 
the governor of the colony, Sir Philip Wodehouse, who 
has already given us assurance of a hearty welcome so 
soon as we are ready to accept the hospitality of the 
Cape. We are to have at this point a great sorrow in 
our home circle. 

A hunting-party formed for duck-shooting, and com- 




Engineer Matthew O'Brien 



DEATH OF CUMMINGS 14I 

posed of Engineer Cummings, Master Bulloch, and the 
writer, had passed the day, Aug. 3, 1863, at the head of 
the bay. Late in the evening, on the return to the ship, 
Cummings shot himself through the heart in an effort to 
pull the gun to himself by the muzzle. The hammer of 
the gun caught the thwart. Without an outcry or groan, 
but with a look of despair and appeal never to be forgot- 
ten, he sank into the bottom of the boat, his body coming 
together limp as a rag. It was so sudden and unexpected 
as to stun and appall, and, used as both of us had been to 
sudden death, tears only relieved and restored our straying 
senses. Our first impulse was to pull to the beach for 
assistance from some Hottentot laborers ploughing in a 
field, but were met with raised hands and dilated eyes. 
Evidently under the impression we had committed the 
deed, all assistance on their part was emphatically refused. 
They dropped the ploughs and ran, leaving us alone, far 
from the ship, and night coming on. After a long weary 
pull, for the wind had left us, we reached the gangway. 
It was midnight, yet the side of our ship was crowded 
with heads, and the dead silence on board seemed to indi- 
cate a premonition of sorrow in our arrival. Reaching the 
deck, the sad intelligence was conveyed through the offi- 
cer of the watch to Semmes. The writer was invited to 
the cabin, and the story of the tragedy retold in all its 
details. Semmes was deeply affected, trembling with 
emotion, and brushing away a tear creeping slowly down 
his weather-beaten cheek, he said, " That will do, sir ; 
good-night." Slowly and carefully the body is carried 
below, the wound examined by Llewellyn, and with a watch 
by it, left for the night, the officers and men with soft 
step and bated breath retiring to their quarters. And 
here a pause for the student of human emotions. A soul 
has suddenly winged its flight to the undiscovered country, 
and its sudden loss has numbed and paralyzed the senses 



142 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

of his fellows. Now, change the mode, and scatter the 
casket of this same soul piecemeal with the cruel shot or 
shell, and the dying groans of the companion are smoth- 
ered in the shout of victory, and not a tear need we spare 
the dead messmate. Morning comes, the Confederate 
flag for the first time at half-mast on our ship, and droop- 
ing in the light air as though in sympathy with the sur- 
roundings, advises and warns our friends on shore. The 
news has reached them, and our decks are free of visitors. 
Jack passes his holystone easily over the deck in the 
morning clearing, and walks with lowered eye and light- 
some step. In single file the full complement of ship's 
boats, with muffled oars and flags at half-mast, form the 
funeral cortege, and in a quiet spot, the gift of a sympa- 
thizing farmer, we laid our shipmate to rest. Kell read 
the beautiful funeral service of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church over the remains. A stone now marks the spot, 
ordered from Cape Town, and put in place through the 
attention of the officers of Her Britannic Majesty's squadron 
on this station. 

Our boat is once again in ship-shape, and we are not 
ashamed to compare her with any of the " cracks " of her 
Majesty's service. Good-bys have been said, and with 
the request that our Saldanha friends will keep green the 
grave of our shipmate, we steam out of the bay and stand 
south for the Cape. As we are at leisure, the ship at sea 
and settled to the routine of every-day life, with no vessels 
of the enemy's merchant-fleet likely to require our atten- 
tion, thoughts will often stray to that far-away home, in 
the throes of a desperate and unequal struggle. We know 
that thoughts tending this way are futile, that to do, to 
act, is practical ; yet we cannot dismiss the haunting fear 
that our brave fellows are but actors in a forlorn hope, a 
useless struggle ; hence cui bono, this knight-errantry of 
the Alabama ? But steady ; we must strangle these whis- 



AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE 1 43 

perings of the weaker side of our manhood, and resolve to 
strive against all discouragement. 

It is now the 5th of August. The Alabama nearly a 
year on her cruise. We are greeted with a surprise 
to-day, and an agreeable one. Ahead we make a sail 
idling along in the light air, and soon we are alongside 
the Tuscaloosa. You must know, reader, the future on 
the Alabama is a sealed document to officers and men. No 
cabinet to our president ! Semmes settles everything in 
propria persona, hence the surprise at meeting our young 
cock-chicken, the Confederate States barque Tuscaloosa, 
in this out-of-the-way place. To Semmes alone it was ex- 
pected. It had been pre-arranged, and our skipper was, 
no doubt, impatient to learn if Low had " struck ile." He 
had ; but only to be catalogued as a grampus. The sum 
of the cruise being the bonding of the American ship 
Santee with a neutral cargo. This bond is in the cate- 
gory of Confederate notes — simply a curio. After the 
interchange of experiences, supplying our tender with late 
news, papers, and light literature, she fills away under 
orders for Simon's Town, and we on our course for Cape 
Town. We soon leave her hull-down in the light air. 
Simon's Town is a safe harbor, hence the Tuscaloosa is 
sent there, for she is needing repairs. Our ship is bound 
to the Cape Town settlement as the official residence of 
the governor. The harbor is open and dangerous in 
heavy weather, yet we have the advantage of steam to 
work off a lee shore if necessary. 

Aug. 5, 1863. One of the most exciting episodes of 
our cruise occurs to-day. We had approached within six 
or seven miles of the town, or rather of the headland, the 
wind being very light at the time. We made a barque 
ahead, standing in for the land. She had all the appear- 
ance of an American to the average judge on board our 
ship. Her nationality was soon positively assured by 



144 TW0 YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

master's mate Evans ; and steam was crowded on to over- 
haul and capture her before she should reach the charmed 
marine league. We owe the success of the venture to 
the light air prevailing, and full steam-power that we 
happened to have at the time chase was made. We were 
soon alongside ; and, throwing an officer and boat's crew 
on board, stopped our engine immediately alongside of her. 
The prize-master made a rapid examination of her papers, 
and having no doubt of the legality of the seizure, directed 
her captain with his papers, to our ship, retaining com- 
mand pending Semmes's action. The barque proves the 
Sea Bride of Boston, from New York to the east coast of 
Africa, " and a market " or, in other words, on a coast- 
trading voyage, her cargo consisting of prints, muslins, 
notions, etc. A typical trading cargo. The Alabama is 
now at a standstill, the barque hove-to with maintopsail 
to the mast, while we take the compass bearings of the 
headlands and lights. We anticipate a controversy over 
the distance of the barque from the land at the time of 
capture, and are preparing for it. We make the Sea Bride 
six miles from the land, and so record in the log-book 
with the compass bearings; and Semmes condemns the 
vessel. Fulham, who has charge of her, receives orders 
to stand "on and off" the land, waiting for instructions. 
We cannot, as you know, reader, carry the prize into port. 
As may be imagined, the American consul, assisted by 
the mates and captain of the captured vessel, prepare and 
present numerous documents and affidavits to the effect 
that the capture was made inside of the marine league ; 
supported, of course, by compass bearings, etc. A long 
and tedious correspondence grows out of it. A cross-fire 
of formidable documents passes between the governor, 
Semmes, the American consul, and the skipper of the 
Sea Bride. Statements of lighthouse keepers, telegraph 
signal men, id omne genus, are examined, and the men 



CAPTURE OF THE SEA-BRIDE 1 45 

catechised in person. It was a muddle as to statements ; 
the significant part of it being, however, that the witnesses 
on the part of the authorities all agreed with the official 
statement of Semmes forwarded Gov. Sir Philip Wode- 
house. The senior British naval commander on the 
station, at the request of the governor, also made an ex- 
amination into the subject ; and the result was to fully 
establish that the vessel was from five to six miles from 
the land at the time of capture, and thus a legal prize, and 
beyond the protection of the British government. The Sea 
Bride hung about outside, in charge of a prize crew, while 
the Alabama came to anchor in the bay. Semmes did not 
order the Sea Bride away, but awaited properly the decis- 
ion of the English local government. Our position was 
quite satisfactory. Visits were exchanged between the 
governor, Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker, and officials gen- 
erally ; although the controversy referred to above was 
pending. We were not treated as possible culprits ; the 
attention to us was universal. The scene on the hill- 
tops commanding the sea, the morning of the capture, 
as viewed from the deck of the Alabama, beggars descrip- 
tion. As we were informed by the Cape Town news- 
papers, every vehicle that could be commanded was 
pressed into service, for the ride to the point of vantage, 
and price was no object to the sight-seers. A chance of 
a life-time presented itself, and reminded the writer of the 
appearance of the shores of Hampton Roads the morning 
of the Merrimac-Monitor fight. It is safe to say Cape 
Town was almost depopulated, and the excitement empha- 
sized by the general turnout to visit the ship at her 
anchors. Every imaginable form and model of boat were 
represented in the throng around our ship. Boatmen and 
longshoremen, struggling, vociferating and swearing to 
get first alongside. Boats of the rowing-clubs, their crews 
in neat and appropriate uniform ; yachtmen on their craft ; 



I46 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

tugs, passenger-boats, and even clug-outs ; anything that 
could float was brought into requisition. You may ima- 
gine our officers and men busily employed. The chief 
object of the visit — to coal ship — is relegated to the dim 
future. It is evident our task at present is solely to stand 
by and be questioned. The English, the foster-fathers of 
the Alabama, are naturally proud of their creation, and 
they appear to be also in sympathy with us and our cause. 
Our crew are about one half English man-of-war's men, and 
have found among the sailors of the English squadron 
here many old shipmates, and doubtless they have already 
planned a glorious time together on shore the first liberty- 
day. 

So we are entertaining fore and aft, every man of our 
ship's company being busy ; and the wonder is that Kell 
and the officer of the deck have a hat-brim left, what with 
the bowing and removal of chapeaux at the gangway. 
Semmes is not to be envied. Seated in state in his cabin, 
Bart ell i, his steward, as master of ceremonies, the crowd 
surges in and out of the cabin. Now an official, redundant 
in gold-lace, epaulettes, and "orders," hands his card to 
the steward, who, fully impressed with the rank and im- 
portance of the visitor, elbows his way to the august pres- 
ence, presents the card to Semmes, and with an affirmative 
answer re-elbows the official to the presence of our all- 
important functionary. Bartelli is a scientist in his way, 
knows all the grades of grandeeism, and just when to pop 
the champagne. It is amusing to watch the air of conse- 
quence that sits upon the countenance of our captain's 
steward. A very Chesterfield he, when the occasion calls 
for it, and he is a born diplomat in disposing of such as 
in his opinion are not an honor or ornament to the cabin. 
Bartelli, however, never offends. The ladies, in person or 
by attorney, in the way of a delicately scented billet-doux 
accompanying a present of choice fruit or bouquet, are in 



RECEPTION AT CAPE TOWN 1 47 

great force ; and it frequently occurred to the writer as he 
glanced his eyes cabin-hatch-ward, that as least one lady in 
Dixie's far-off land might have felt some jealousy at the 
enthusiasm of this female inundation of the Alabama's 
cabin. 

Day after day this avalanche of visitors is poured on our 
deck, until we verily wish we had a printed form of an- 
swers to questions pasted around the ship. The weather 
at this time is delightful. The last of the winter, but 
balmy and soft, approaching in temperature our spring or 
autumn ; and, as we learn, this colony is the elysium of 
consumptives. So far the storms prevalent at this sea- 
son have not visited us, hence the ship is crowded. Later 
on we shall have a heavy gale and clear decks. Boats 
cannot live in the sea kicked up in this anchorage by a 
blow, if we except the heavier ones for special service. 
Our officers are the recipients of many kind invitations to 
parties, balls, and country outings ; and as only duties such 
as keeping port-watch demanded the attention of officers 
and men, both, by watches, are on shore. Jack and his 
chum from the English fleet are to be seen arm-in-arm 
standing before the wind with light kites out alow and aloft, 
bound to sailor-town, the new-found mate from the Narcis- 
sus being the pilot. All Cape Town is agog ; and the sailor 
boarding-house keeper, and the ladies of the " east end," 
are on the tip-toe of expectation, the latter drawing heavily 
on their stock of ribbons and furbelows for the evening 
ball. We visit, by invitation, the celebrated "Constantia" 
vineyards, a few miles from the town, and are hospitably 
entertained at dinner, and shown over the vineyard. The 
proprietor is a Hollander, an old settler, and with his 
family of grown sons and daughters entertains us quite 
royally. We find them cultivated and refined, their hospi- 
tality vying with that of our English hosts. Fruits of 
various kinds are abundant, particularly grapes, the latter 



148 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

being of exquisite flavor and unusual size, weighing many 
pounds to the bunch. The Constantia wine is celebrated 
the world over for its exquisite flavor, being a ladies' wine, 
sweet, and but slightly intoxicating. A present of a cask 
of this wine was made our commander by our hosts, a 
most substantial one when one appreciates its market 
value. 

We were forcibly reminded that we were now in the 
land of the tiger, by observing, as ushered into the parlor 
by the servant, the stuffed form of one, in a crouching at- 
titude, in the act of springing, its eyes glaring with fearful 
realism. It startled us sensibly. The country is richly di- 
versified with mountain and valley, and in the highest state 
of cultivation, the Boers of the colony being ideal farmers, 
thrifty and industrious. Verily John Bull knows a good 
thing when he sees it, and this is a land of milk and honey 
and diamond's. Our commander is entertained by Adm. 
Sir Baldwin Walker. The dinner was appointed for the 
evening, and the captain's coxswain was instructed to 
have his boat ready for the trip. At the appointed time, 
the gig was manned, and Freemantle, proud of his boat 
and mission, shoved off from the side of our ship. The 
gig reached the pier after dark ; and Semmes, calling his 
coxswain aside, instructed and warned him not to leave for 
the town, nor to allow any of the boat's crew away from 
the dock. Upon Semmes's return he was not long in dis- 
covering that his heretofore trustworthy coxswain was 
"three sheets in the wind," and "catching crabs" with the 
stroke oar. He was ordered to trail his oar, and soon sank 
to sleep under the seats of the boat. The next morning 
Freemantle was brought to the mast for punishment, and 
disrated. The next day he asked to see the captain again. 
Removing his cap, he asked permission to go on shore, 
adding that he did not wish to stay but a short time, and 
if the favor was granted, he would not ask liberty again 




Engineer John Pundt 



a 



CUT OFF FROM THE SHORE 1 49 

during the cruise. The captain, struck with the earnest- 
ness of the man, and the request coming so soon on the 
top of punishment, asked an explanation. " You see, Cap- 
tain," he answered, " I was doing my duty faithfully, keep- 
ing both myself and crew on the dock. You had finished 
dinner above-stairs, when the admiral's coxswain appeared 
on the pier, and asked me to dine down-stairs with him, 
and try a bottle of the admiral's grog. I several times re- 
fused, but he stuck to me like a barnacle. Yielding at 
last to the tempter, I left the boat, and you know the rest. 
I can say, however, Captain, for my boat's crew, they did 
not disobey your orders, only myself. Now, what I want 
is a few hours' leave, until I can come up with that ad- 
miral's coxswain, and give him the d — dest thrashing 
he ever had." To this the captain replied, with a smile 
at the oddity of the situation, " Your anger is misplaced. 
You alone are to blame ; the man was simply tendering 
you hospitality and a compliment. Go forward ; you can- 
not go on shore." I will add that Freemantle's case blew 
over, and he was reinstated to his former position. 

We are cut off from the shore for a day or two by one 
of the periodical storms ; and many officers and men are 
shore-bound, unable, except at great risk, to reach the ship. 
To all intents and purposes, she had as well, or better, be 
at sea. None but a class of boats constructed for the pur- 
pose can approach her. She is riding to a mountainous 
sea, and fairly dipping her nose under as she plunges in the 
trough, our chain-cables vibrating and groaning like taut 
fiddle-strings. We have both " bowers " ahead, and cables 
payed out to extreme length. As dangerous an anchorage 
as our ship ever had. We have a tough time in getting 
our crew on board, indeed do not succeed fully ; but as we 
are going to the safe and near port of Simon's Town, we 
can, with the assistance of the police and our own efforts, 
get hold of Jack later on, we presume. 



150 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

It is now the 9th of August ; and, arrangements com- 
pleted by our worthy paymaster as to provisions, etc., we 
weigh anchor, and under steam start for a safer and more 
comfortable anchorage. We have been so busy and ex- 
cited as verily to forget the numerous hints given us by 
the officers of the English squadron as to the Vanderbilt. 
This cruiser was really on our track, and close aboard of us 
several times, most likely within sound of our guns. We 
have had descriptions of the power, speed, and battery of 
this ship, and the fate awaiting us upon capture (as put by 
the officers of the Vanderbilt upon her late visit here), such 
as might bring our hairs to gray and our appetite to nil. 
But of one thing be assured, Semmes intends keeping the 
noiseless tenor of his way; and unless the Vanderbilt puts 
in appearance in very substance, we shall keep on burning 
ships wherever found. We have to double the Cape of 
Good Hope in going to Simon's Town, — a bold rock 
headland, the clouds spread over its summit much like a 
tablecloth for the genii of storms. We have a pleasure- 
trip of it, however, the air balmy and soft as spring. 
What a time we should have now if the Vanderbilt is hid- 
ing on the other side, to carry out the programme laid 
down to the officers of the English squadron ! We shall 
have a side-wheel steamer to tackle, at any rate ; and in 
spite of her formidable battery of eleven-inch guns, we have 
a chance of disabling her paddle-wheels. We are not 
looking out for prizes now, or thinking of them ; and, as the 
unexpected always happens, here we have it. " Sail ho ! " 
right ahead we make a ship, pronounced at once by our 
expert to be American. We are under steam, so that in 
an hour we are alongside of her, the wind being very 
light, and she making little or no progress. Upon be- 
ing boarded she proved to be the Martha Wenzell of 
Boston, from Akyab for Falmouth, England, with rice. 
She was christened at her launch under a lucky star ; for 



THE LWEXPECTED HAPPENS I 5 I 

she was, upon taking bearings of the land, found to be 
within British territory. And our English friends have 
been too kind to us in the matter of the Sea Bride (to say 
nothing of leaning affectionately otherwise towards us) for 
us to think of jeopardizing friendship by opening up a 
new controversy in international law. The Martha Wen- 
zell, though five to eight miles from the nearest land, was 
within the mouth of the bay, hence a question as to the 
legality of the seizure. The captain of the Wenzell was 
dumfounded upon learning he would be allowed to pro- 
ceed on his voyage. A poor compliment, however, this 
amazement at our according simple justice to him. We 
fill away, and leave him to the enjoyment of the surprise. 
We haul inshore, sight the light-ship, take a pilot, and 
anchor near our protege, the Confederate States barque 
Tuscaloosa. The usual naval etiquette is gone through, 
a boat from the flag-ship Narcissus visiting us with a 
lieutenant in charge, and with the compliments of the ad- 
miral tendering us the hospitalities of the port. Nothing 
could exceed the attentions and kindness extended us 
here, and indeed at all British colonies we called at. You 
may have noticed we make no reference to an interchange 
of salutes, a custom of all time in the navy. It was 
omitted in our case ; the British government having de- 
cided that we were not entitled to a salute under a status 
of simple belligerent rights, acknowledged by the principal 
nations of the world. Hence it was omitted, pending the 
absolute fact of a conquered peace, and entry into the cata- 
logue of nations. But naught else was omitted to show 
respect for a young nation struggling for independence, 
or for its representatives. Balls, entertainments, and din- 
ner-parties are the order of the day and night here ; but 
sandwiched in we manage a little work also, for a ship 
(like a young lady) is never quite finished. Our men are 
again treated to a run on shore, Jack being in his element 



152 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

here, surrounded by chums from the English men-of-war ; 
and then he received in the Cape Town mail sundry epis- 
tles of a tender nature from Nancy and black-eyed Susan 
— gushing epistles such as require his personal acknowl- 
edgment ; and the mail-coach is driving the liveliest trade 
it has had for many a month. An impromptu boat-race is 
gotten up between crews of the Alabama and the flag-ship ; 
but honors are easy, both crews and boats being English, 
and about equal as to muscle. 

A little trouble was caused us at this point by the 
American consul, the presence of our new cruiser, the 
Tuscaloosa, in the port undergoing repairs, having stirred 
up the ire of the American representative. A commu- 
nication is addressed by him to the governor, calling 
attention to the status of the Tuscaloosa (which was 
formerly the barque Conrad), captured and fitted out by 
Semmes in June last, and suggesting that it was Eng- 
land's duty to seize and restore her to her former owners. 
This the governor very properly refused to admit, having 
no right to inquire into the antecedents of the Tuscaloosa. 
He could simply know the vessel as a Confederate man- 
of-war, and as such extend her the hospitalities of the 
port, and permission to recruit both ship and crew. The 
right of commissioning the vessel was within the provis- 
ions of international law. You may be sure Semmes had 
a case that the twistings and windings of law officers could 
not muddle. Still, the consul had done but his duty in 
making all efforts to restore her to her former owners. 
We shall see later that the matter is not fully settled at 
this time, the Queen's counsel upon the later return of 
the Tuscaloosa to Cape Town advising the seizure of the 
vessel, and test of the case ; which resulted in the loss of 
the services of the ship to our cause for the remainder 
of the war, and her final surrender to her original owners. 
It was decided that, as she was never taken to a home port 



THE VANDERBILT I 53 

and condemned by a prize-board, she could not be held by 
us in a neutral port. The case was, however, reopened by 
Semmes, the British crown finally admitting the perfect 
right of Semmes, as the representative of his government, 
to commission and use the ship on the ocean, and that the 
Tuscaloosa was entitled to all belligerent rights accorded 
other Confederate cruisers, — an absolute triumph for 
Semmes. We are ready for sea now, but in a most dis- 
abled state. What between the American consul's efforts 
and those of the boarding-house sharks, seducing and hid- 
ing the men away, and the hospitality of the English 
man-of-war's men and of black-eyed Susan, we are short- 
handed, but must put to sea, matters of vital importance 
demanding our attention. We get the Tuscaloosa off this 
time, and follow her on the next day. 

Aug. 1 5 we leave Simon's Town for a cruise off the 
pitch of the cape, having the day before despatched the 
Tuscaloosa to join the Sea Bride at Angra Pequena. 
We are now in the perpetual stream of commerce from 
the East Indies. The Vanderbilt should be here. We 
are having alternate storm and calm, day and day about. 
In all cases under close reefs. We remain here ten days, 
nearly stationary, giving our tenders ample time to reach 
Angra under sail. We board many vessels day and 
night. Not a Yankee in the vast fleet. Our nearest 
approach to collision with the Vanderbilt occurred dur- 
ing this short raid. In the first night-watch, just before four 
bells (ten o'clock), the weather thick and night dark, the 
strike of four bells was heard by our watch-officer, on a 
vessel close aboard. The night-glasses disclosed a very 
large steamer, looming high out of the water, and lying, 
like ourselves, in a loafing attitude. It would be a mere 
accident if she should make us out, our vessel lying so low 
in the water, and weather favoring. To order that our 
bell be not struck, put up helm, and report the fact to our 



154 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

captain, were precautions of a flash. By the time " Old 
Beeswax " had bundled into his pea-jacket and reached the 
deck, even scout Evans, with his selected night-glasses, 
failed to conjure up her outlines. The Alabama's fate is 
to be other. You need not doubt, reader, but that we had 
sighted the Vanderbilt. 

The Tuscaloosa is bound to Angra Pequena, as also 
the Sea Bride, in command of master's-mate Fulham. 
Both are to rendezvous at this point ; and the Alabama, 
after making a short cruise off the pitch of the Cape, is 
to meet them. Angra Pequena is a bay on the African 
coast, and claimed by nobody ; that is, no civilized power 
is exercising jurisdiction over it. It is the land of the 
Hottentot, who knows nothing of international law, and 
cares less. We are to be there soon. The Alabama 
is now battling with the " brave west winds " again, 
" hove-to " in the great highway of commerce, awaiting 
her prey. A more dangerous and uncomfortable fortnight 
the Alabama never experienced during her entire cruise. 
It is blowing incessantly, with spit of rain and snow, 
for we are now about sixty miles to the southward of 
the Cape, and weather cold. Vessels are flitting past 
us in the darkness like spectres, and woe to us if we 
should be run down. We are thinking more of this 
than of the Vanderbilt, which vessel is cruising off here 
likewise. We make and board many sail ; but they all 
prove to be neutrals, or transferred Americans — a most 
unprofitable experience every way, nothing in it to reward 
extreme exposure, labor, and suffering. The elements are 
too many guns for us. The seas are tremendous, and 
gales practically incessant. And, besides, merchant ships 
of the enemy have the run of several degrees of latitude 
here, if they choose to make an unusual course to keep 
out of our way. The reason for our making the attempt 
to waylay them here is then peculiar, as will be seen 



NASTY WEATHER I 55 

anon. Enough, at present, to say it was utterly fruitless. 
And now, having thoroughly satisfied ourselves of the 
uselessness of continuing it, we clew up our canvas, and 
steam into Angra Pequefia, where the Tuscaloosa and 
Sea Bride are waiting for us. We anchor in the beauti- 
ful and roomy bay in the latter part of August, and 
here close the first year of the cruise of the Alabama. 



156 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER IX 

WE MAKE A DEAL ; A CHANCE FOR HANDLING PRIZE- 
MONEY ; ADVENTUROUS CUSTOMERS ; SALE OF THE SEA 
BRIDE J FISHING ; THE VANDERBILT AGAIN J SECOND 
VISIT TO CAPE TOWN. 

In the bay of Angra Pequena we find our two ships as 
expected ; and near them an English vessel, having on 
board several merchants from Cape Town. The truth is, 
that our rendezvous here, as well as our late stormy cruise 
off the cape, was instigated by an incident of most unex- 
pected and surprising character. In short, Semmes was 
approached by several merchants who had formed a syndi- 
cate, with a view to purchasing and disposing of his prizes. 
That such a thing as realizing on our captures was possi- 
ble, when they could be taken into no civilized port without 
being seized and held for the original owners, had not once 
occurred to us. But the scheme, as unfolded, looked easy 
enough of accomplishment, and of course it was most at- 
tractive to us. If we could not deliver the property within 
British waters, there were hereabouts several ports that 
nobody owned but the Hottentots, who neither knew nor 
cared for the provisions of international law. And as to 
the disposal of the goods by the purchasers, here was a 
whole continent, more densely populated, probably, than 
either North or South America, to find a market in. 

There was disappointment, no doubt, at our putting in 
an appearance without the expected string of prizes from 
our late cruise. But the Sea Bride and the cargo of the 
Tuscaloosa were substantial assets, and well enough for a 




Gunner Thomas C. Cuddy 



IN THE BAY OF A NCR A PEQUENA I 57 

first venture. As it afterward proved, perhaps our ill luck 
was the means of saving the speculators from ruin. 

"The best-laid plans o' mice an' men 
Gang aft agley." 

And that they do so is not always to be accounted a mis- 
fortune. 

Proposing to keep our trading-place a secret between 
those interested, we had of course turned over the master 
and crew of the Sea Bride to the care of the American 
consul, though we had taken care to keep the ship at sea. 
Perhaps for the moment the lust of gain was upon us suf- 
ficiently to give us a touch of the feeling that inspired the 
buccaneers of old. Our customers were certainly dipping 
into the adventurous, since they proposed to purchase and 
trade from port to port in a ship that had no nationality, 
no responsibility, and no protection but what she could 
give herself. The affair seemed to us romantic, anyway. 
And the chance of realizing for our crew, as well as our- 
selves, some of the wealth that figured so nobly on our 
ledgers, and putting it beyond the chances of war, marvel- 
lously sweetened the severities of our service while we 
thought we had it. 

But now, in the cabin of the Alabama, as we look down 
through the skylight from the deck, may be seen a serious 
and businesslike group. On one side Semmes, and the 
paymaster Gait with the invoices and other papers neces- 
sary to an estimate of values. On the other, the gentle- 
men who were making the venture, with their clerks and 
their bags of gold. 

The subject-matter has been discussed and satisfactorily 
arranged, and now may be seen the opening of the bags of 
gold and telling them out on the cabin table. For hours, 
in the quiet of our safe and close retreat, may be heard 
the clink, clink, of British sovereigns, as they are verified 



158 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

by our careful paymaster. It was interesting to observe 
our Jack, one by one, cast a sidelong glance down the cabin 
skylight, and take in the counting of the gold, and with a 
wink and remark of satisfaction to his shipmate, saunter 
leisurely forward. Jack is taking in the practical demon- 
stration, and no doubt mentally indorsing the (at the time 
taken with a grain of salt) persuasive words of " Old Bees- 
wax " at Terceira some months since, when in a speech of 
honeyed phrase he was bidding for a crew. No better 
proof of the judicious methods of discipline outlined by 
Semmes could be submitted, than that under them, 
though engaged in acts somewhat suggesting the pranks 
of the buccaneers, our crew were as well held in hand as 
though serving on an English man-of-war in times of pro- 
found peace, and at the same time in a state of perfect 
contentment. 

The entire cargo of the Sea Bride has been sold with 
the vessel. The wool is to be shipped to England, and 
sold on joint account, for the benefit of both parties to 
the contract. Wool, being a product of the Cape Colony, 
was not included in the purchase for evident reasons. 
The transfer is completed, and the Sea Bride, a wan- 
derer like ourselves, starts out on her trading venture. 
The idea of her purchasers is to move along the coast 
from village to village, disposing of the goods in the 
way of barter, and upon the completion of the cruise to 
transfer the purchased cargo of ivory, wool, etc., to a reg- 
ular British vessel, destroying, or otherwise removing, the 
identity of the purchased prize. It is a paradoxical posi- 
tion, this of the Sea Bride. She has no papers, no na- 
tionality ; at the same time, she cannot be regarded as a 
pirate or outlaw, the act of purchase having been consum- 
mated with the agent of a duly recognized government. 
However, the embryo entanglement, that might have oc- 
cupied the attention of an admiralty court, was settled in 



SALE OF THE SEA BRIDE I 59 

a summary manner by the loss, later on, of the vessel. 
She was wrecked on the African coast, and became a 
total loss. 

About one-third the market value of the Sea Bride and 
her cargo was realized by us ; and, weighing the loss of time 
and upsetting of the routine of daily man-of-war life, we 
have not profited greatly by our fairy market. However, 
the visible handling of gold in exchange for something we 
had heretofore been offering up as a sacrifice to the 
ocean gods, helped our crew to realize that not only glory 
is theirs, but substantial prize-money. 

We are anchored on the skirt of a barren, bleak back 
country. There is nothing to tempt us ashore ; but we 
have a visit from over the ridge separating the beach 
from the interior — a small lot of Hottentots, the only 
inhabitants we have seen. They are poor and emaciated, 
naked, and look as though half-starved. Timidity and won- 
der at first hold them spellbound ; but gathering assur- 
ance from our gestures and invitations they advance, and 
being pressed by signs make the acquaintance of our ra- 
tions, devouring the food as though long deprived of any. 

We hauled seine, supplying ourselves and new-found 
acquaintances with delicious fish of unknown species to 
us, but palatable, and an agreeable addition to our salt- 
horse and rice. I have no doubt our Hottentot friends, 
if they have the science of language, chatted many a 
day after over the visit of the strange vessel and her 
generous behavior. Such a feast must have been an 
event in their lives. We are put to inconvenience here 
by the disarrangement of our condensing apparatus, and 
have to depend upon the three companion vessels for a 
supply of fresh water for our ship's company. This is 
a sterile coast, no water, no green thing, not so much 
as a stunted bush, — sand everywhere. However, we are 
near civilization ; and our own engineers are fully equal, 



l6o TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

with necessary material, to the repairing of the condenser, 
Low being ordered to cruise off the coast of Brazil in 
the moderate latitudes, and take his chances of picking 
up the fish that slip through our net in the Strait of 
Sunda, we see him off, and wend our way once more to 
Simon's Town. The Tuscaloosa is to meet us here some 
months hence, upon our return from the Eastern raid. 

Again we find ourselves on the highway of commerce 
off the Cape, our commander no doubt vexed and impa- 
tient at his want of luck here, and unwilling to re-visit 
our old friends of the British squadron without being 
able to report even a " bite." But, so it turns out, we 
see neither the Vanderbilt nor any but neutral sails. Our 
enemy is getting wary, no doubt, doubling the Cape out- 
side the beaten track ; but, nearer the truth of the case, 
he is laid up in the India ports, his occupation gone, and 
waiting for some John Bull or others with plethoric 
pocket-books to come along, and make the purchase of 
a fine clipper ship at fifty cents on the dollar of value. 
The English flag is just now safer to fly than the Stars 
and Stripes. Wonderful the work of a single modestly 
armed cruiser. We remain here without result (save we 
shall be reported to commerce as guarding the highway 
of the Cape) until the middle of September, when we fill 
away for Simon's Town. The first news we get upon 
arrival is that the Vanderbilt had coaled ship here, and 
left two days since for another cruise, so supposed, off 
the Cape. She is evidently hot in the chase, having vi- 
brated between Cape Town and Simon's Town nearly 
ever since our departure for Angra Pequena. There 
would be some chance either in fight or run for us, but 
none for Low in the Tuscaloosa, so we are gratified to 
know he is winging his way up to the latitudes of the 
Brazils. Again are we the victims of the ghost stories 
imparted to us by the officers of the fleet and the citizens 



SECOND CRUISE OFF THE CAPE l6l 

of the town. We soon learn all about the battery, power, 
and speed of our affectionate seeker, and can almost give 
you a diagram of her gun-deck and other appointments, 
so faithfully are they pictured to us by our friends. No 
doubt the officers of the Vanderbilt are equally well 
posted as to our strength of armament, speed, etc., and 
their mouths are watering to gather us in, and suddenly 
become heroes and admirals. Should the two vessels 
sight each other, it is a puzzle to predict the result. The 
Vanderbilt is much the more powerful vessel in every 
way, but very vulnerable in her paddle-wheels, slow to 
answer to her helm, owing to her great length, and in a 
seaway unable to handle her heavy battery with safety. 
On the other hand, the Alabama is quick to the touch of 
her helm, low in the water, and with pivot guns of suf- 
ficient weight of metal and projectile to cripple the enemy 
in her paddle-wheels. We should not have run from her ; 
indeed, from all we could gather, she had the speed of 
us, and it would have been no option, a case of " in the 
corner, and fight it out." But we are simply indulging 
in the speculative. We never had the chance to tackle 
her, and hence shall never know. 

We could get no coal here, the market having been ex- 
hausted of supply by the Vanderbilt — a great coal con- 
sumer she. We order a supply by vessel from Cape Town, 
and await its arrival. Now is your time, Capt. Baldwin, 
if the fates are smiling your way. You should have some 
signal rockets in the hands of the American consul of suf- 
ficient force to apprise the Vanderbilt of our presence, and 
withdraw her from her occupation of hide-and-seek off the 
Cape. Again the rounds of pleasure and dissipation are 
the order of the day and night. Our crew have soon again 
forgotten their ship and the object of their cruise. We 
shall have a difficult time scraping them together. They are 
the heroes of the hour, and we greatly fear we shall lose 



1 62 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

many of our most valuable men. We have many influ- 
ences working against the gathering of them in. The 
dear girls, with all their assumed Southern proclivities, are, 
in fact, enemies, intoxicating our heroes with their attrac- 
tions ; the boarding-house runner has his eye to business, 
and the American consul is not idle ; for the first time 
perhaps in his official career he has the inward conscious- 
ness of feeling his salary well-earned. He is plying our 
simple, befuddled lads with grog and cash, and placing a 
further sum " where it will do the most good." But it is 
the unavoidable consequence of port-visiting, and we must 
make the best of it. We can, of course, recruit our com- 
plement, but not in quality. The drill-masters will have 
the old, and to them humdrum, gun-exercises to go over 
with raw men. 

The ship is again somewhat in confusion, decks thronged 
with visitors. We have re-established the land-ferry to 
Cape Town, and officers and men are journeying back and 
forth. Occasionally one of our truant men puts in an ap- 
pearance, having succeeded in running the gantlet of 
Susan and the other shoals, and we are too well pleased 
to hint of "irons" or the "brig." We have, as a cicerone 
to the officers, a member of the reporters' staff of the 
Simon's Town newspaper, and as usual just the fellow to 
fill the bill. Not only can he suggest, or cut out plans 
for fun and frolic, but he knows how to pilot. We are 
soon made acquainted with all the snug retreats where 
that "friend" is to be found, and have pointed out to us, 
in the park or on the boulevard, the " belle " of the city. 
But shortly we must put an end to the carnival of fun 
on the part of the officers, and debauch on that of the 
crew, gather the fragments together, and be off. One in- 
cident of consequence remains to be recorded. Among 
our visitors were two young gentlemen of the Prussian 
naval service, on furlough, " travelling abroad." They 



SECOND VISIT NO CAPE TOWN 1 63 

had recently been shipwrecked on the coast near Cape 
Town, and having the romantic chord in their souls 
touched, applied to Semmes for the privilege and honor 
of serving on our ship. Their worth at once appreciated 
by our commander, they are tendered warrants as master's 
mates, entering upon their duties with the zeal and experi- 
ence of old hands. Baron Maximilian von Meulnier of 
Bremen and Julius Schroeder of Hanover are our newly 
acquired officers. Our captain never had cause to regret 
these appointments. The young gentlemen fully con- 
firmed his judgment, formed on sight, that they were 
accomplished gentlemen and sailors. 



164 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER X. 

from cape town to the east indies j ocean roads 
and currents \ dividing poor jack's effects ; 
island of st. paul | drilling ; more prizes ; pulo 
condore; enjoying life; Singapore. 

Our departure from Simon's Town was taken at night, 
in the teeth of a gale, and with a heavy sea to pitch into 
under steam to get an offing. The truth is, we were will- 
ing just at present to avoid the Vanderbilt, which it was 
only reasonable to suppose must be by this time pretty 
well informed of our whereabouts through the good offices 
of the American consul, and as likely as not to be waiting 
for us outside the bay. We had lost altogether twenty- 
one of our trained men at Cape Town, and among them 
some that we could ill spare. Their places we could only 
fill by stealth, the shipping-offices not being open to us, 
and the neutrality laws not permitting us to ship them 
openly. We got men enough all the same ; but getting 
them on board had to be done secretly ; and then it was 
not wise to remain in port until the consul could lodge 
information (doubtless his spies kept him well enough 
informed of all our movements in spite of our precautions) 
with the authorities. They were not, of course, efficient 
just now ; and it was not the part of wisdom to engage a 
superior adversary in our crippled state. So this night's 
work was rather anxious and exciting. The gale shrieked 
through our bare poles and rigging with fierce and vicious 
opposition ; the black rifted clouds overhead spit alternate 
lightnings and scared moonbeams about our path, as they 




Boatswain Benjamin P. Mecaskey 



DEPARTURE FROM SIMON'S TOWN 165 

fled sh<^i a ward, revealing out of inky gloom ghostly glimpses 
of the rock-bound shore and the tossing sea. Such a night 
in this latitude must have inspired the weird tradition of 
the Flying Dutchman ; and I do not doubt that Jack was 
looking out for him, and would have felt a most uncanny 
indisposition to report a sail, even had it been bearing 
right down upon us. Such aspects of nature impress them- 
selves strongly upon memory and the imagination, though 
they give no rational cause for dread. The absence of 
physical danger seems in fact to intensify the shudder of 
the soul, as if it felt the warning of a wrath impotent for 
the present, only that it may be saved up to its appointed 
day of judgment. 

But by hard knocks we have conquered our offing, set 
our sails, and fallen off to a " full and by " where we ride 
easier. The propeller is hoisted, the fires banked, and we 
are stretching away to the strong westerly wind that is to 
"run down our easting" for the Straits of Sunda. Day- 
light soon breaks now ; and with it the last touch of ghostly 
fancies melts away. Jack lets his eye sweep the horizon as 
bravely as ever ; but there is nothing now in view but sea 
and sky and the circling birds. 

We are steering due east. The map makes our course 
about north-east. And why ? Ah, even on the wide seas 
arises the paradox that the direct way is not always the 
shortest. We are following the way laid out by Capt. 
Matthew F. Maury, once of the United States Navy, and 
superintendent of the naval observatory at Washington — 
now of the navy of the Confederate States. Maury's sail- 
ing directions bid us make the little barren isle of St. Paul 
in the South Indian Ocean before taking our departure for 
the straits. Thus we shall have the winds and currents in 
our favor. How natural it is for the landsman to regard 
the sea as a known and well-traversed plane of waters, all 
of whose surface-secrets, at least, are known to the navi- 



l66 TWO YE A AS ON THE ALABAMA 

gator and the chart ! But could he take a bird's-eye view 
of the oceans, how narrow and thread-like would the trav- 
elled roads appear on the vast waste ! How completely a 
ship, or even a large island, might lose itself in the wilder- 
ness " out of the track of ships " ! 

The oceans, like the great body of air above them, are 
traversed by currents whose cosmic origin is little under- 
stood, and whose velocity and locality may vary more or 
less, but which are practically to be depended on in mak- 
ing a voyage. And then, these have their channels of 
greatest flow, if not of depth, like the terrestrial rivers ; 
and so the " road " is narrowed in most cases to a few 
miles, and along these narrow roads the commerce of the 
earth travels in great caravans. 

But, narrow as the roads are, one may travel them for 
days without getting within speaking distance of, or even 
sighting a sail. One or two hundred miles is a mere 
ribbon of width on the ocean, but it will carry several 
ships abreast, and out of sight of each other. For our 
purposes it is not enough to be in the road, even in the 
very middle of it. We must select places where it is very 
narrow indeed, and by preference, some spot where two or 
three roads cross. We were in such a position off the 
Brazilian coast ; and we are seeking another at the Straits 
of Sunda. 

Our first task after we are fairly at sea is a sad one. It 
is customary when a sailor dies at sea, to distribute his 
relics (the contents of his bag or chest) among his mess- 
mates, unless he has formally disposed of them himself. 
The poor fellows we now mourn are not dead, so far as we 
know ; but they have lost the number of their mess, and 
by this time find themselves cut dead by the friendly 
consul and his agents, while the boarding-house shark, 
well aware that with our departure there will be a cessa- 
tion of supplies, is arranging to get an advance at once on 



CROSSING THE INDIAN OCEAN l6y 

them for reshipment, and refusing further credit on any 
other basis. Poor Jack ! But any way he is lost to us, and 
there is but one thing to do. Up on deck with his Lares 
and Penates, and put the new men into their uniforms and 
traps ! And then there is the forfeit of his arrears of pay, 
and his prize-money, which looks like something substan- 
tial just now. 

There is no drilling, nor, indeed, is there much work of 
any sort to be done at present. The gale is right behind 
us, and the sea following is absolutely mountainous, with 
the sweep of three oceans in it. The helmsmen have to 
watch her sharply, for she has a tendency to swerve as 
she slides down the steep slopes, and should we broach to, 
one of these toppling hills of water would fall on us with 
about the effect of so many tons of iron. It looks some- 
times as if they would come right over the stern — " poop 
her " in sailor parlance — but the bonny boat is too quick 
for them, and just tucks them under as they break. 

On this run we sight a few sail — neutrals, of course — 
and when they are going our way they pass us. The reason 
is we are under very easy sail, having plenty of time, while 
they are chasing up the market. Only a chase can make 
us risk our sticks or even strain our sailcloth. Then we 
are in some danger of running upon icebergs, which at 
this season drift up this way, and we don't care to scud 
any faster than the seas compel us to. 

The run of nearly five thousand miles with such a gale 
behind us is quickly made. Early in October we find 
ourselves in sight of the two small islands, the larger of 
which is the St. Paul we are in quest of. We might find 
it to our profit to make something of a stay here, for 
plenty of vessels will come this way, and it is also a resort 
of whalers. But the weather is stormy yet, and we are 
tired of it. The only thing we regret seriously is the 
chance of catching the fish which abound at the islands. 



168 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

We would enjoy the sport, and not less the change of 
diet. 

We pass through the doldrums, and shape our course 
for Sunda, light airs and variable, no calm-belt. We are 
favored in this. Soon we take the S. E. "trades," and 
are rollicking along, all kites out, and studding-sails lower 
and aloft. The gallant winds soon dry the decks, and 
raise the drooping spirits. The departments and mess 
quarters are emptied of wet and soggy material, and lines 
and hammock-nettings, and even the decks, are encumbered 
with them. The appearence of the spar-deck is that of 
a second-hand clothing shop. Our recently acquired re- 
cruits are busy overhauling their bags, and taking an in- 
ventory of their stock in trade. These ragamuffins had 
been pitched over our side in every nondescript style of 
outfit, dirty and ragged, the natural sequence of " a glori- 
ous time ashore." We have now to shape them up and 
make man-of-war's men of them. We shall be busy with- 
out let-up, until we make the Sunda Strait, drilling at 
all the exercises. We are not troubled with coaching 
them for sailor-men however. They are picked and tried 
veterans in this respect. 

Our companions, the birds, have left us. Our old 
acquaintances, the dolphin and flying-fish, reappear, the 
former playing around the ship, and at times darting for 
the schools of the latter, as, startled from the sea by our 
motion, they wing their way to leeward. We are again 
treated to fresh fish, the outcome of grains, hand-fishing, 
and the trolling-line. The ship is soon sparkling as a 
diamond, in fresh paint and polished brass-work, and is 
verily a nautical school. During the entire passage from 
St. Paul to Sunda Strait the various warlike exercises 
are daily going on for hours together, an hour or two 
at "great gun" drill, a shorter time to boarding and 
repelling boarders, small-arm (infantry) squad or division 



HEADING FOR THE STRAITS 1 69 

drill with pistol target-practice (at bottle slung from the 
fore-topmast-studding-sail boom). It is an active and 
at times stirring and exciting drill, particularly in the 
"boarding rushes," where examples of wonderful activity 
and quickness may be observed ; for Jack takes real inter- 
est in his exercises and studies, if we except the handling 
of small- fire-arms. Here no compromise can be effected 
with Jack. He has a thorough contempt for this sort 
of a weapon ; and you may resign yourself to the stern 
fact that he will slight and avoid it as far as he dares, 
to the bitter end. He will never allow you to make him a 
" soger." Later on the news that the Wyoming is hold- 
ing the passage of the strait emphasizes the excitement, 
and the crew feel that something more than playing fight- 
ing may take place in a few hours. A stranger suddenly 
dropped on our decks would at once detect the marked 
warlike aspect of surroundings. If no duel comes off, 
at least our lads will have hurried on to a state of thorough 
efficiency. We have prepared many a fellow for Her 
Majesty's service, and she will find them well up in gun- 
drill without a question. 

Sunday muster has now been resumed ; and as our tars, 
hat in hand, double the capstan, the eyes of our skipper 
and executive speak eloquently their approbation of the 
men's natty appearance. Order now reigns supreme. We 
are off the strait, the land in sight, but distant. Octo- 
ber is on the wane. The strange cry (to us latterly) 
comes from aloft, " Sail ho ! " We speak, and com- 
municate by boat, with an English barque just out of 
the strait. We get by her some later news from the 
seat of war than our last advices at the Cape supplied ; 
but our interest is principally centred in the news that 
the United States cruiser Wyoming and tender were hold- 
ing the passage of the strait, leaving but seldom, and 
then only to make the port of Batavia for coal. Our 



170 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

English captain was very communicative, bringing with 
him as a present a recent chart of the strait, and point- 
ing out on it the usual anchorage ground of the cruiser. 
The Wyoming had adopted the precaution of mooring 
at night to a buoy off Krakatoa, an island athwart the 
passage of the strait, the currents being rapid and vari- 
able, and the seas in this latitude studded with coral 
reefs, making it dangerous to "box" about them at night. 
We are surely in for it now, for we shall not shirk a fight 
with a cruiser not much our superior in point of weight 
of metal, and to get through without being sighted seems 
out of the problem of chances ; the passage is so narrow 
that vessels are easily made out from shore to shore. We 
have the information of the presence of our enemy veri- 
fied each day or two by neutrals, one of them reporting 
being boarded by a boat from her. We are loafing off 
and on in sight of the land, awaiting the prey. We 
are safe to carry on the work of destruction until we 
speak a vessel inward-bound and be reported, when 
we must look out for number one. So far, no inward- 
bound vessel has been spoken, and all the boarded ones 
have proved neutral. Poor sport indeed ! What has 
become of our once immense China fleet of clippers ? 
dissolved as the mist before the rising sun ! Mortifying 
and humiliating state of affairs, and vexing to our enemies 
to have to acknowledge it. The work of an insignificant 
second-class gunboat, outcast from home, and, save in 
English ports, without friends. But she sails on un- 
daunted, pursues the even tenor of her way, and you 
shall see, burning and destroying in the very lair of her 
foe. We now get up steam, and furling sail, make a 
morning visit to the stream of vessels coming out of 
the passage. We find them "at home," receiving our 
" cards " with every token of hospitality. They impart 
all important news they are possessed of, and fill away. 



PREPARING NO MEET THE WYOMING 171 

But still we are not happy. We want to burn something. 
We are like the fire-laddies after a long and tedious inter- 
regnum, spoiling for a fire. These new-made acquaint- 
ances also remind us so often and forcibly of the presence 
of the Wyoming, the formidable appearance of her eleven- 
inch guns, etc., that we have the crew all excitement, 
grinding the edges of their cutlasses, reloading rifles 
and revolvers, and making all manner of hostile prep- 
aration. Indeed, the ship looks quite warlike. But 
we have our reward. " Sail ho ! " from aloft. We pay 
no particular attention to it, having been disappointed 
so often. But the opinion of our Bunsby alters the case ; 
and soon we steam up with the American barque 
Amanda of Boston, from Manila bound to Queens- 
town, with the usual cargo of sugar. She is con- 
demned and burned, after being looted of attractive 
stores. The ice being now broken, we take it as a 
new departure and omen of renewed luck, and cheer 
up. You see, coals are expensive in these latitudes, 
thirty to forty dollars per ton, and in gold at that ; so 
we have to look about sharply to pay expenses. We 
light up the heavens with the glare, and no doubt the 
conflagration is the theme of conversation on many a 
passing ship, speculation marvelling as to the cause. 
As often as practicable we burned our vessels in the 
daylight. After boxing around a while longer, and feel- 
ing the need of fresh provisions and fruit, we steamed 
in, bearding the lion in his den, and anchor in the mouth 
of the strait close to the Sumatra coast. It has been a 
weary, monotonous, and boisterous voyage of a month 
and a half. We have cruised off the strait for some 
days, boarded an immense fleet, and yet found no inward- 
bound vessel, finally announcing our own arrival. 

The fact is, the Wyoming happened to be just at this 
time absent on one of her periodical visits to Batavia for 



172 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

coal. If we had not used .extraordinary economy during 
our run across the Indian Ocean, and from St. Paul to the 
strait (not even keeping our banked fires as we had al- 
ways done before), we must have gone to Batavia also, 
and in that case not only missed the work we were now 
doing, but almost surely have met the Wyoming and a 
fight. 

We draw a relieved breath, and sleep the sleep of the 
weary, with an anchor-watch set. We are at daylight 
looking on one of the most beautiful pictures of the earth. 
On one side Sumatra, the other Java ; in the centre, the 
smaller island, Krakatoa. To describe the luxuriance of 
the tropical verdure, the flocks of birds of varied and beau- 
tiful plumage, the parrot, cockatoo, bird of paradise, paro- 
quet, winging their flight from island to island over the 
sea of green sparkling in its gentle undulations, is beyond 
my feeble pen, and has doubtless been conveyed to your 
senses long since by the descriptive talents of a preced- 
ing voyager. Krakatoa was, as you recollect, submerged 
some years later by an earthquake, which destroyed vast 
property and a holocaust of human victims. Anger Point 
is on the opposite side of the strait from our anchorage, on 
the Java coast, — a military post of the Dutch, occupied by 
a small garrison in command of a lieutenant. It is a stop- 
ping-place for all vessels in and outward bound, either for 
water or provisions. The town is insignificant, with none 
but natural attractions, the chief being an immense ban- 
yan-tree. On a former cruise, the writer remembers tak- 
ing advantage of its cooling shade, and estimating with his 
eye that it would shelter many thousand people. This 
tree has many trunks ; the branches of the parent trunk 
reaching down and taking root, until by and by a vast 
pavilion has been formed. This particular tree is many 
hundred years old. 

Our ship is the centre of a fleet of native boats of the 







Sailmaker Henry Alcott 



IN THE STRAITS OF SUNDA 173 

canoe order, everything about them but the hull the prod- 
uct of the bamboo reed, indispensable to these islanders, 
hence supplied by generous nature. Of this reed they 
fashion sails, masts, spars, etc., and in their homes, mats, 
chairs, vessels, and utensils ; indeed, one has to look about 
to see what is not made from it. Fruits of varied kinds 
indigenous to the tropics, poultry, eggs, and vegetables, 
are in superabundance ; and our appetites being of the 
growing order, we keep the two stewards of the cabin and 
ward-room messes busy purchasing and preparing. Fore 
and aft a perpetual barter and trade is in progress with 
the natives. No rum to be had from them fortunately ; 
so Jack keeps up a good appetite, and is enjoying himself 
in a rational way. Reader, if you have never made a 
voyage such as we have just completed, you cannot appre- 
ciate the perfect sense of abandonment that has stolen 
over us. We are absolutely given over to enjoyment and 
feasting, and even the land has no attraction for us as to 
touch. We are satisfied to sniff the spice-laden breezes 
of the monsoon, and under the awnings puff our Manilas, 
and watch the boatmen and the graceful manoeuvres of 
their boats under paddle or sail. The tailor's bills of 
these fellows, it may safely be affirmed, should not be 
permitted to run the length of time of a New York swell, 
that is, if the cost is proportioned to the elaborateness. 
It should require no great strain on the pocket-book to 
liquidate the debt promptly. 

We find the dolphin swarming these straits ; and when 
underway and moving through the water rapidly, the 
trolling-line keeps the sportsman busy, the deck fre- 
quently covered with the floundering fish, changing with 
each struggle from one bright color to another in his 
dying gasps. No liberty can be allowed officers or crew 
at this point ; the Wyoming's proximity rendering it im- 
prudent, if not hazardous, to allow any portion of our com- 



174 TW0 YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

plement to stray even a short distance from the ship. 
Still, there is little inducement to visit, beyond bringing 
this luxuriant verdure within touch ; we are breathing its 
sweetness at every breath. The swarm of native boats 
supply us with every article of luxury that is native, and 
much also in the way of English and French imported sea- 
stores, obtained by these enterprising traders from Singa- 
pore. 

In the midst of our dolce far niente we are awakened 
from dreamland by the report from aloft that a vessel hav- 
ing the appearance of a man-of-war has taken in all saij, 
and is standing for our anchorage. We "cat " the anchor, 
jump to stations, steam being in the meantime ordered ; 
and for some time we think the long-expected fight is 
about to come off. About the time we are ready for 
action, the rain-squall which had enveloped everything has 
passed over, and discovers a merchant-vessel clev/ed down 
to the squall. It was a false alarm, after all. And so we 
have it now off and on for weeks, until we have worked 
the salt pretty well out of us. But presently we steam 
through the straits, passing the little garrison of Anger, 
and the myriads of islands studding the pass, into the 
China Sea. We have seen nothing of the Wyoming. But 
just as we are thinking of anchoring for the night, which 
we shall always do in these treacherous seas of shoals and 
uncertain currents, we make a taunt, fine ship standing 
towards us — and not a doubt of her nationality. The 
chase is short, we being under steam and the wind light. 
A blank cartridge brings her to. She proves the ship 
Winged Racer, a magnificent full clipper from Manila, 
and bound to New York. She had the usual sugar cargo. 
She was condemned* and, much to our surprise, our captain 
came to anchor off one of the islands, seeming to be in no 
hurry to fire her, despite the fact that the enemy could not 
be many miles off. The truth is, a number of stores were 



THE WINGED RACER 1 75 

manifested on her, which Semmes did not propose to sac- 
rifice. We passed well into the midnight watch despoil- 
ing her as the spider does that other winged racer, the fat 
and juicy fly. The captain of the doomed vessel making 
the request (the sea is smooth in these island waters), per- 
mission was granted him to take the full complement of 
boats of the prize, and pull for Batavia. Provisioning the 
boats for the trip, and taking the prisoners of the late 
prize Amanda, he bids us adieu, as happy as circumstances 
permit, and shoves off. We afterwards learn of his safe 
arrival under the wings of the American consul. These 
captains could testify in person to the Wyoming, upon 
their arrival at Batavia, how much her absence for coal 
had cost them. 

What a change from the deck of a superb clipper bound 
to New York, and the quarters of a jolly-boat bound to 
Batavia ! In the meantime, a number of bumboats are 
alongside from the adjacent shore, driving a lucrative 
trade with the stewards and forward messes. We have 
now finished ransacking the prize, and preparing the 
Winged Racer for the torch. Trade with the Malays is 
in full tide of its prosperity, the waters of the straits still 
bearing to us boats from the inlets loaded with additional 
attractions intended to deplete our pocket-books and stock 
of tobacco. Suddenly the flames shoot up from the cabin 
and forecastle of the doomed ship. Our boarding-officer 
has fired her. The two vessels are lying near each other, 
only a safe distance intervening. Suddenly, with shouts 
and exclamations, a stampede as of a routed army takes 
place among the Malays ; and with paddle and sail, as hur- 
riedly as these could accomplish it, the boats are away to 
the inlets. It would puzzle one to interpret the impression 
made on these islanders by the sudden fire. The most 
plausible is, that being themselves pirates upon opportu- 
nity, as well as traders, they put an evil construction on 



176 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

the act, and, fearing their turn might come next, concluded 
to get out of the way. They knew how it was themselves. 
Luckily we had secured plenty of provisions and fruits in 
advance. 

Steaming for the Gaspar Strait, we overhaul scores of 
vessels, but not of the nationality we search for. We are 
twenty-four hours in coming up to Gaspar. This is the 
second-most used exit from the North China ports. We 
should probably have met with no further luck in the other 
direction ; as we had already lit up the full distance with 
the flames of two vessels, and the trading-boats left be- 
hind would have advertised us far and near, as they travel 
the length of the strait in the fierce competition for for- 
eign-vessel trade. Do not think, reader, we are rushing 
off to dodge the Wyoming. We are following up the nat- 
ural logic of chances, and hunting our own game, leaving 
it to her to catch hers. Our harvest in these lower nar- 
row systems of outlet will be of short duration, and we 
must gather it while we may. Captures are getting too 
infrequent to justify us in a protracted loaf at any one 
point. We shall accomplish more in the utter consterna- 
tion and demoralization spread among the China fleet than 
in the actual destruction of ship. Two months from our 
advent, the remainder of the proud clipper fleet of the 
American marine was laid up at anchor in the Eastern 
ports, awaiting foreign purchase. 

We are near the Gaspar Strait, and are rewarded by one 
of the most valuable captures of our cruise. " Sail ho ! " 
We have a stiff breeze at the time ; and as the sail had 
already been pronounced by Evans American beyond all 
doubt, we must be cautious. The vessel is a splendid 
clipper, close-hauled, standing southward, a homeward- 
bound ship. You must know, reader, that the Alabama 
is not the fleet-footed greyhound she once was. Old 
" Time " and the elements have worn the copper from her 



CHASE OF THE CONTEST IJJ 

bottom, and curled it in rolls on her bends. Her boilers 
are eaten into by incrustations of salt, so that it is pos- 
itively dangerous to carry but very moderate steam. 
Hence, we shall have from this time out to pocket our 
pride of ship, and make up for her sloth and dulness by 
manoeuvre, strategy, and stealth. 

We are under sail and steam, and keep off warily a 
point or two to intercept her. We are showing United 
States colors, and trust she will take us for her own 
cruiser, the Wyoming, known to them to be just here, 
and about the class of vessel, rig, etc., as ourselves. She 
smells a mouse, however ; at least, she proposes to be on 
the safe side, and rather shoulder the ignominy of being 
thought timid and unsociable to her countryman than take 
any chances. She is rather too valuable a ship to light up 
the way of the strait for foreign bottoms to steer by. As 
we keep away, she throws to the breeze her studding-sails, 
and the chase has begun. No occasion now for deception ; 
that point is passed. We must get her in our clutches 
by sheer steaming and sailing qualities. We haul down, 
therefore, the Stars and Stripes, and float at our peak in 
its place the white flag of the Confederacy, recently 
adopted by our Congress, and not unlike St. George's 
Cross of the English. A blank cartridge is given, but 
she does not respond to it. She intends to struggle for 
liberty. We are more excited now on board of our ship 
than often before in our experience. As a rule, the chas- 
ing of a sail is a matter-of-fact, every-day occurrence ; and 
both officers and men follow their duties or amusements 
without comment or thought of the chase. But not so 
now. Our rail and hammock-nettings are crowded, even 
the watch below curious to see the " Derby " of the Gas- 
par Strait. The sail is evidently gaining on us. The 
Alabama has at last met her conqueror in speed, and her 
day of humiliation seems about to be on her. Steam is 



178 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

forced to the danger point ; and still the chase is leaving 
us, slowly it is true, but still leaving us. We conceive 
the idea the ship is out of trim too much by the head, 
and shift our battery aft, and even call to the rescue our 
"live stock," congregating the officers and crew clear aft 
This was a judicious thought, for we now at least hold 
our own. Still, this does not satisfy the longings of our 
discontented souls. We are anxious, no denying it, and 
somewhat demoralized. It has resolved itself to this : if 
the breeze does not die out, night will overtake us, and the 
enemy dodge us in the darkness or a squall. We are do- 
ing our level best, steam and sail with a smashing breeze, 
and gaining on the plucky and gallant fellow absolutely nil. 
We are within rifle range of her, about four miles ; we 
hesitate to sheer our ship for the shot, losing so much 
distance by it ; but it seems neck or nothing, and the pro- 
jectile is finally sent after her, striking the water and 
throwing the spray over her quarter-deck. Gallant shot 
for Armstrong! Still she keeps on, evidently having 
made up her mind to be sunk rather than captured and 
burned. The determination of the brave skipper rather 
causes the mercury of our hopes and ambitions to drop ; 
and nothing seems left but the chance shots of our 
one-hundred-pounder shell disabling her, to land victory 
on our side. Suddenly we discover we are gaining on 
the racer. The wind is going down with the sun, and the 
elements have conquered the race for us rather than the 
speed of our bonny boat. We are approaching her rapidly. 
All hope is then abandoned on the part of the victim ; she 
luffs to the wind, and with maintopsail to the mast, lays 
quietly awaiting her doom. The boarding-officer returns 
with captain and papers, but we can anticipate. The 
earnest efforts at escape had already told the tale. She 
is the American clipper-ship Contest, from Yokahama to 
New York, with an assorted cargo of Japanese curios, teas, 



GASPAR STRAIT 1 79 



silks, etc. As predicted, the cargo was notcoveFed, and 
both are condemned to the torch. We,are at anchor in 
the midst of the archipelago, smooth seay and now light 
breeze, and (an unusual thing) the prize is visited by our 
officers in numbers. We had never captured so beautiful 
a vessel. She was a revelation of symmetry, a very race- 
horse. A sacrilege, almost a desecration, to destroy so 
perfect a specimen of man's handiwork. We could but 
pat the gallant skipper on the back for his display of pluck 
and nerve. His owners should reward him handsomely 
for it. After despoiling the prize of stores, etc., the torch 
is applied ; and by the time we are underway, the flames 
are licking in hungry mood the spars and sails of the 
doomed ship, lighting up the landscape and waters with a 
lurid glare. Strange sight ! 

The captain is leaning against the rail, looking on in 
silence. His brow is unruffled, and face calm. We will 
not inquire into his thoughts. He has merited our re- 
spect by his pluck, and we know how he must feel to lose 
such a ship. But he admits no personal grudges. We 
found the skipper of the Contest a frank, clever fellow. 
He told us his late command was unexcelled in speed. 

An incident of the chase may here be apropos. O'Brien 
was on watch in the engine-room, and working his fires 
for all they were worth, when the inquiry comes from our 
skipper to know if we can't have more steam. The an- 
swer comes, " The tea-kettle will stand no more ; if we at- 
tempt it we shall scatter the pieces for the chase to pick 
up." 

We are eating the " white bread " of our romantic 
cruise just now, sailing over calm seas, being wafted 
idly through archipelagoes, supplied almost daily with the 
dainties of the tropics by the adventurous Malay boat- 
man, with nothing to mar the perfect sense of ease and 
security but the dangerous navigation. Those seas are 



ISO TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

constantly adding to their shoals through the activity of 
earthquakes and the busy coral insect. We are combin- 
ing business with pleasure. We usually anchor at night- 
fall, nothing lost by it, as the stream of sails have to pass 
us. We have also, since entering these close seas, fitted 
out our launch, a fine stout boat, and with a heavily 
armed crew and howitzer patrol the surrounding waters 
in watches, and thus take every precaution against any- 
body's slipping past our net. 

We are steering now for the Carimata Strait to the 
eastward of us, another channel of egress for the China 
fleet, making of course many sails, but slow luck again. 
We are in the N. E. monsoon, but not strong yet. 
We pass through this strait after an unusually quick 
passage against the prevailing wind, and anchor off the 
island of Souriton, and remain here several days, the posi- 
tion offering every chance of intercepting the home- 
ward bound fleet. We board the British ship Avalanche 
from Singapore, homeward bound. For a consideration 
the captain of this vessel agrees to take our prisoners to 
the nearest point convenient for him where an American 
consul can be communicated with. So with bag and 
hammocks our friends of the Contest are transferred — 
pleasant parting on both sides. This English skipper re- 
ports American commerce as approaching zero, and it is 
our only consolation for the news we get through him of 
the gradual tightening of the folds of the anaconda 
around our beloved land. Reader ! we will not attempt 
the translation of our feelings for your sympathy — too 
imperfect the thoughts and tongue to convey them. But 
the reflection over what we have already done is, in a poor, 
weak way, consoling — a barren refuge for the sick and 
anxious heart. Do you wonder that the would-be gener- 
ous impulses of our soul, yearning to stretch out to our 
brother in his deep affliction, should be smothered in their 




Commander's Secretary, W. Breedlove Smith 



CARIMATA TO BORNEO l8l 

very birth and fade away at the approach of the solemn 
funeral march of the wrongs imposed on us ? And thus 
are our feelings swayed hither and thither as we cull the 
war news from each batch of newspapers obtained. Meet- 
ing with no success here, we weigh anchor and are off for 
the coast of Borneo, the land of the baboon, who, some 
people would have us believe, is near relation. How 
ever, we do not stop to pay our respects to him, not being 
on pleasure bound. A stop of a few days on this coast, 
and we stretch over to the coast of Cochin China. We 
now have variable weather, calms, rain-squalls, and the 
wind all around the compass. We are anchored for sev- 
eral days, the currents sweeping by us sometimes as rapid 
as four or five knots, making it most difficult to get the 
lead to the bottom for soundings. We frequently anchor 
in twenty fathoms or more. You can scarcely appreciate 
the clanger of navigation in this uncertain archipelago. 
Observations of the sun are useless, the uncertain cur- 
rents throwing your calculation of compass-course to the 
winds. It can safely be asserted that more splendid ships 
have laid their bones on the reefs and shoals of the lower 
China seas than in all the remainder of the world beside. 
Our commander has our full sympathy, but how he 
manages to keep up under the loss of sleep is amazing. 
He must have a rugged constitution and iron nerves to 
pull through it as he does. At all hours of the day and 
night he may be seen bent over his chart in the cabin, or 
on deck conning the soundings. A heavy responsibility ; 
for the lives of all are in his hands, to say nothing of the 
inestimable value of the charge he is piloting through this 
labyrinth. Perish our pride and sweetheart rather by the 
shot and shell of the enemy than ignominiously by the 
treacherous shoal. As in a previous cruise of the writer 
in these seas, we observed the water covered with snakes 
of a yellow hue striped with black, and lazily basking in 



1 82 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

the sun, moving but slowly on the water. They are harm- 
less, our men dipping them up in buckets at night in the 
quiet. If at anchor they will crawl up the anchor-chain, 
through the hawse-hole to the deck. Immense fields 
of seaweed cover the seas, floating in a solid mass, with 
breaks in them looking like rivers made by the strong 
current, which are the abode of shell-fish of varied kinds, 
some of the crabs being large enough for table use. What 
a multitude of God's creation find food, rest, habitation, and 
safety here ! " They that go down to the sea in ships, and 
occupy their business in great waters, these men see the 
works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep." 

We are taking the change of the monsoon, hence the 
disturbance of nature, squalls, rain, etc. We are meeting 
none but neutral sails, and may at any moment have that 
dread of the navigator of this archipelago, the fearful 
typhoon, down on us. It is the season for it, coming 
with the change of the wind. These monsoons prevail 
for six months each way, the N. E. and S. E., giving 
the traveller of the Eastern seas two shake-ups in the 
latter fall and spring months. We have had one ex- 
perience already off the Newfoundland Banks, in an open 
ocean with plenty of sea-room, and have no taste for its 
duplicate ; but here it is a gray horse of another color. 
We are cribbed, cabined, and confined, to heave-to in it, 
and drift with the current on a shoal or island, or anchor 
in a rushing, surging current, and drag anchor to the 
aforesaid shoal or island. It is no overdrawn picture. 
Again, we should have these apparently well-disposed 
Malay bumboat men, alias pirates, to contend with should 
disaster overtake us. It may be the fear of the dangerous 
season has deterred our friend the Wyoming from seeking 
us, for she beyond doubt has heard from us daily through 
the immense fleet overhauled and boarded by our ship. 
A longer sojourn in these seas has probably taught her 



TO COCHIN CHINA 1 83 

the imminence of the danger at this time of change of 
monsoon, and caused her captain to await a more favor- 
able time upon our return on the back-track home to in- 
terview us. I do not think our watch-officers ever 
experienced before or since the anxiety of the past week 
or so. We have been in tight places before, and worked 
out all right ; but here we have no sea-room, and if any- 
thing takes a sailor's nerve it is this. Our watches are 
now no holiday or half-doze on the horse-block ; and Jack 
is not bundled up under the weather bulwarks, but wide 
awake, the lead constantly going, soundings noted, and chart 
examined to determine to a dot the position of the ship. 

It is now the latter part of November. Luck has again 
departed — no prize. Cut bono, this battling with fickle 
currents, and almost scraping over the shoals ? Restless 
life, ours ! We must have constant bustle and excitement 
to smother our rising thoughts of the far-off land we love 
so well. Our captain begins to show the wear and tear of 
weary months of watching, thinking, and anxiety. It is 
true, we of the watch and boarding-party must be on hand 
always, and stand up to the calls at all times and hours. 
We get the weather with no back-out, answer the notice 
of the quartermaster at dead of night that a sail is to be 
boarded, frequently board a vessel in wet clothes, and re- 
main in charge of her until time has made them dry and 
warm again ; yet we are young, and full of warm blood, and 
pull through all right. Different the position of our com- 
mander. True, he can go below at desire, be at all times 
comfortable as to dress, and has no watch to keep ; but 
these privileges are more than offset by the irregular sleep 
and hours, grave responsibilities, and disadvantage of more 
than twice our age on his shoulders. We are as tough as 
hickory, the truth of the assertion borne out by the fact 
we are never on the sick-list, pulling through with slight 
ailments always. 



1 84 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

We skirt the coast of Cochin China without so much as 
making a single capture, and shape our course for the 
small island of Condore, reaching and anchoring outside 
of it for the night. A welcome rest. We are under the 
lee of the land, snug and cosey, and can draw a breath of 
relief. We have come here for some slight repairs to the 
ship, not to be attempted but in a still harbor. Quiet and 
deathlike sleep refreshes both officers and men, only an 
anchor-watch being kept. Our skipper must have enjoyed 
it particularly after his recent battle with perplexities. 
Island (Pulo) Condore is a French settlement of recent 
acquisition, and at the time of our visit in charge of -a 
French naval officer as governor, with headquarters on 
shore in the small Malay village, his protection only a 
small nondescript vessel carrying one insignificant carron- 
ade, but which politeness compels us to designate a French 
man-of-war. The crew are a mere handful of sailors. On 
shore we have the garrison on an equally small scale. We 
had thought ourselves rather insignificant in this wide 
world of powerful fleets, but we felt the impulse of strut 
strong in us. Here is a chance for conquest seldom met 
with. We can carry the fleet and garrison by storm with- 
out the loss of a man. But we surely have no need of the 
island, beautiful as it is, except as a temporary abode for 
work on our ship, and relaxation for our officers and crew ; 
and, indeed, cannot, with our republican ideas of coloniza- 
tion, see what Johnny Crapaud wants with it, there being 
no market we know of for apes and vampire bats except in 
a moderate way. Condore is a bold specimen of the work 
of the coral insect, jutting up perpendicularly from the sea, 
and with its dense tropical verdure, and relief of huts and 
white coral houses, almost hid from view by the luxuriant 
vegetation, most pleasing to the eye and senses. What a 
vast period of time is required to finish the work of the 
busy little insect, and clothe the surface with soil thick 



PULO CONDOR E 1 85 

and rich enough to support so much luxuriant vegetable 
life ! Well may we pause in wonder at unfathomable na- 
ture, and as to the why and wherefore of it. We are 
anchored in a land-locked bay of comfortable anchorage, 
and French ownership and occupancy back of us as protec- 
tion. But in the absence of a French naval force sufficient 
to add might to right in enforcing the laws of neutrality, 
we combine discretion and valor, putting a " spring" on our 
chain-cables, so as to command the narrow passage to the 
bay, should our enemy put in an appearance, and attempt 
an overt act of hostility. Our French naval officer and 
governor is as usual the demonstrative exponent of native 
courtesy and attention, welcoming us to his empire with 
all the inherent grace of his race. Quite a young man, 
too, about two and twenty, and a fine specimen of a man 
and sailor. 

We are told to make ourselves at home, and stay as long 
as agreeable. We have a present from him, — a small 
bullock sent to the ship, with the addition of vegetables 
and fruit. Save the absence of congenial companions, our 
worthy new-made friend should be perfectly contented on 
this paradise of an island. Luxuries of the table in super- 
abundance, and most of them to be had for the simple 
gathering ; a grateful monsoon tempering the atmosphere, 
blowing first from the N. E., and then the S. E., the year 
round, with slight pauses of wind in the change ; epidem- 
ics unknown ; and nothing to disturb the even beating of 
the pulse, the natives even partaking of the character of 
these calm, unruffled surroundings. Bloodless conquests 
these, too, as a rule. Without discussing the abstract 
question of the right of appropriation by the Western pow- 
ers, one thing has been made clear, the world is better for 
it. Gradually these labyrinths of islands have been al- 
most relieved of the presence of native pirates ; and it has 
been accomplished more by the moral effect of the pres- 



1 86 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

ence of Europeans than by the force of naval arms. Our 
indefatigable executive is in his element now, putting things 
to rights. This sometimes means stirring up things into 
quite a muddle at first ; the decks lumbered with the tools 
and material of the four heads of department, the boat- 
swain, carpenter, sailmaker, and gunner, each overlooking 
his gang, and securing from time to time orders or sugges- 
tions from the superior. The paint-pot and slush-bucket 
are also in requisition, and our garish uniforms in danger 
from the tar-bucket ; so, as we are ready for a visit to 
the governor on shore, let's be off. Port is the elysium 
of the watch-officer ; the first luff has the prime polish of 
the ship to attend to ; the keeping it up the after-duty of 
the watch-officers. We are having our good time now. 
With permission to go on shore, we step into the cutter 
and land at the head of the bay, near the garrison grounds, 
and close to the official residence. The boat's crew are a 
picture for the artist, dressed in their summer uniform of 
white linen duck and straw hats ; the boat, with a fresh coat 
of paint, snowy cushions, and scarlet trimmings, testifying 
to Jack's pride in his visiting-coach. No use of caution- 
ary orders not to leave the boat ; go where you please is 
the understood arrangement. No rum here ! Cocoanut- 
milk in abundance. We have no fear of it; and, besides, 
Jack's stomach doesn't take to it over-kindly. We have, as 
usual, brought some arms with us. We visit the governor, 
and have the freedom of the island extended us ; and after 
a pleasant interchange of civilities, during which questions 
multiply on questions as to our expectations, hopes, etc., 
of the result of the war, our gesticulating Frenchman, 
with his hot southern blood, grows excited and belligerent, 
and is really jealous of the opportunities before us and 
denied him ! He has visions of "decorations." 

It may naturally be supposed that much of our conver- 
sation with Monsieur Bizot took the turn of our Civil War, 



MONSIEUR BIZOT I 87 

and the chances of final success, and, incidentally, our in- 
dividual prospects under the hoped-for termination. The 
Frenchman was amazed to learn that no reward was ours 
in the way of promotion out of the regular plod, with per- 
haps the exception in our commander's case ; and nothing 
in the way of "orders" or crosses of merit to be looked 
for even in that. And that our selection for the work 
now being done was considered by our government and 
also by our brother officers a substantial reward in ad- 
vance, passing expression, and the part we were filling 
the envy of our compeers. Our Frenchman could not, with 
his imperial notions and longings, either understand or 
approve this. His whole education taught the inesti- 
mable value of " orders " and substantial recognition in 
the way of promotion, and I doubt not the French com- 
mander would not have been an enthusiast if suddenly 
placed in our shoes. He evidently was a lukewarm if 
at all a republican sympathizer. I have often thought 
since of our many conversations, and wondered what his 
feelings would have been had he lived to see the "bone 
and sinew " of his own land raise up a republic for him 
to live under. He was sui generis — a monarchist. 

We make a visit to the garrison, and indulge in a trial 
of the comparative merits of the French and English 
rifle, proving at each distance of target the superiority 
of the Enfield arm, much to the discomfort and chagrin 
of our French marine. We find on the island an abun- 
dance of wild animal life securely hid away in the dense 
woods and undergrowth, and have some anxiety for our 
men as well as ourselves as we roam, rifles and guns in 
hand, around the foot of the steep perpendicular, and up 
its sides where practicable. The undergrowth is dense 
masses of tree and brier interlocking in the struggle for 
supremacy, many of the vines of a poisonous character ; 
and the surface of the ground the habitation of the 



1 88 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

scorpion, centipede, and many species of venomous ser- 
pents. 

We watch the gambols of the ape and monkey with 
unflagging enjoyment, their antics calling forth shouts of 
laughter. Verily, for ways that are odd and tricks that 
are cute, commend us to our far-removed (?) brother. For 
hours they will sport from tree to tree, forming in march- 
ing line, and making an almost endless chain by locking 
tail to tail and swinging as a pendulum, making a bridge 
of bodies from tree to tree. If one only could speak 
"monkey" now, what lots of fun! Our French gover- 
nor here might practise some of their gesticulations and 
poses for future use in assisting language, and introduce 
into the salons of Paris some new contortions of the face 
and limbs. Chatter, chatter, till sunset ; when an ad- 
journment is made to the sand-beach for what ? a mystery 
to all but themselves. So far as we can judge, it seems 
to be a meeting for the interchange of civilities and gos- 
sip simply, or swapping of views of the ups and downs 
of monkey domestic life. These reunions are made, as 
we observe from the anchorage, each early morning and 
evening ; and the hours would suggest that their meetings 
are not of a political character. We were guilty of an 
act of wanton cruelty, and, by the way, did not repeat 
it. Some one from the deck shot a female ape on the 
beach, wounding her grievously. Her cries were heart- 
rending ; and the sorrow of her young deprived of their 
natural protector seemed fully to equal that of a human 
being. Nor did the distress confine itself to the immedi- 
ately interested, but extended to the whole colony ; it evi- 
dently being regarded as a general national calamity. 
The assassination, or whatever name else they assigned 
for the "damnation" taking off the head of the family, 
had evidently been the topic of serious discussion and 
moanful resolutions ; for in the next early morn the whole 



SNAKES AND MONKEYS 1 89 

monkey and ape population of the island, apparently, 
assembled on the beach, and after an evident ceremony 
and digging of a grave, laid the departed to rest amid 
cries and groans almost human. Upon mentioning the 
incident at the garrison, we learned it was the undeviat- 
ing custom of the animal. And here again " Darwin's " 
theory of evolution presents itself, and the experience 
gathered by our observation offers explanation if not ex- 
cuse for the idiosyncrasies of the theorist. 

But we will return to the forest and exploration. As 
before stated, serpents of venomous character are numer- 
ous, and our party has come upon a nest of them. One 
of our men, Michael Mars, a very dare-devil, is amusing 
himself by seizing the snakes by the tail, and by a dex- 
terous and swift jerk as of a whip-lash breaking the neck 
of the reptile ; utterly indifferent to, and apparently ig- 
norant of, the imminent danger, and against the warn- 
ing and protest of the officer in charge. We come upon 
something in the way of animal life ensconced on a limb 
of a tree, high from the ground. We recognize animal 
life by the almost imperceptible movement, and the sight 
of hair on it. Its large size calls for a halt and consulta- 
tion. We are anxious to bring it clown with rifle or gun, 
but first wish if possible to ascertain wJiat we are to bring 
down. Momentous question ; not convenient or desirable 
to land a wild beast at our feet wounded and furious. 
Hence the pause. We had often, since our arrival in 
these regions, heard of tigers, lions, etc. ; yet so far had 
no personal acquaintance with them, and no knowledge of 
their eccentricities. We are in a quandary. Ridiculous 
scene for fellows who had faced the battle and the breeze. 
But don't let this lower us in your estimation, reader ; we 
are simply out of our element. Not frightened ! Not a 
bit ! Who says so ? Here we go ! Fire ! and tumbling 
out of the tree comes to the ground with a thud an im- 



190 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

mense vampire-bat, wounded, and eyes inflamed with rage, 
hissing like a serpent, and showing its sharp fangs. We 
now know our game, and bag a number of them ; some 
specimens as much as six feet from tip to tip of wing. 
We amuse ourselves shooting parrots, cockatoos, and other 
birds of gay plumage ; but nothing in the way of game, 
either animal or bird species, that is edible. 

By mutual understanding no further warfare was under- 
taken against the ape or monkey tribes. It seemed too 
closely allied to murder. A most remarkable habit to be 
noted was the sudden cessation in the gambols and antics 
of these troops of apes and monkeys. In the full tide of 
their play, as though by the signal of a leader or a con- 
certed pre-arrangement, the wild hurly-burly would sud- 
denly cease, and they would gather in a body. For a 
moment or two there would be chattering and gesticulat- 
ing, as if in mass-meeting, and then a lapse into silence. 
Then the meeting seemed to dissolve as if by magic, the 
whole tribe disappearing, and reassembling in a distant 
part of the woods. 

Our life here soon becomes decidedly pleasant. We 
have little to do but amuse ourselves when off duty ; and 
what with the boating, fishing, swimming, and hunting, we 
are not hard put to it for the how. With the advantage 
of a fine seine, we are able, at very little cost in labor, to 
take all the fish we want, and also to supply our friends 
on shore ; and we receive in turn plenty of beef, poultry, 
vegetables, and delicious fruits. It is a land of luxury and 
profusion ; and we rather wonder that our particular friend 
John Bull, with his penchant for good real estate, has not 
put in some sort of claim on this archipelago. Here at 
Areas, and at Saldanha Bay, we have enjoyed real vaca- 
tions. At ports of the civilized world we are oppressed 
with social duties and good clothes, to say nothing about 
the trouble of looking after Jack. Your common sailor 



RECOPPERING THE SHIP 191 

soon tires of such a life though. He should, it would 
seem, be a true child of nature, since civilization has been 
so unkind to him ; but he is nothing of the sort. Pipe, 
grog, and black-eyed Susan are his paradise ; and for the 
rest, give him the open sea, a topsail breeze, and regular 
watches. He soon tires of going ashore where there is no 
dance-house ; and will only leave the ship to oblige some 
of the younger officers, or to join a fishing or swimming 
party. 

We remain altogether two weeks at the island of Con- 
dore. I doubt if Monsieur Bizot would have objected had 
we decided to fritter away with him the remaining time of 
the war. He either did not know or did not care for the 
neutrality laws so much as for the freemasonry of sailor- 
craft. Quite likely he excused his laxity in the matter by 
the reflection that he was ill-prepared to enforce, in a mili- 
tary way, regulations which we might deem inconvenient 
— by way of salve to his conscience, I mean ; for there can 
be no doubt of his personal good-will or his courage. 

But let it not be supposed that we had no object in an- 
choring in the snug harbor of Condore except to get a rest 
and change of diet. The copper on the ship's bottom, as 
has been mentioned, was getting into a deplorable condi- 
tion ; and besides its hindering our speed under sail or 
steam, it was leaving our planking and timbers at the 
mercy of the teredos which swarm the tropic seas, and soon 
destroy the woodwork of the stoutest ships. Our ingen- 
ious first luff had contrived a hydraulic caisson to be let 
over the side and held by pressure to the bottom, — a " suc- 
tion " affair, in which repairers could work at ease under 
water. The carpenter, Robinson, made a success of it ; 
and the work was done excellently, giving us once more a 
smooth hull. Once more in ship-shape, officers and men 
refreshed and ready for work, we take leave of our friends 
on shore, weigh anchor, and steam seaward. Securing an 



192 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

offing, we let steam go down, and, hoisting our screw, pro- 
ceed towards Singapore in the Straits of Malacca ; we are 
purposely under moderate sail, with fine weather, an occa- 
sional sail sighted and overhauled, and, as usual now, 
neutral. The squalls that come up in these seas are often 
severe ; and the condensation they cause in the saturated 
air is extremely dense, often refusing to refract even the 
faintest ray of the solar beams that fall so brightly above 
it. But the squalls that actually touch the sea are not 
numerous, and the experienced sailor does not much mind 
mere blackness in the upper air. 

The peculiarity of "bull-heads " has not appealed to one 
of our officers, the lieutenant of marines, Mr. Howell. 
He has the distinction of being the only marine on board, 
as we have never enlisted men in that capacity. But 
he is a relative of Mrs. Jefferson Davis, and rather in 
Semmes's confidence; and, except that he isn't even the 
" making " of a sailor, a good fellow enough. He has a 
horror of squalls, and a rooted conviction that the officer 
of the deck is disposed to be careless or reckless about 
them. The terrifying appearance of those we see here 
utterly unnerves him. 

On one occasion the monotony of existence was consid- 
erably relieved by a little scene on the quarter-deck, of 
which Howell was the hero. In order to fully appreciate 
it, one must realize the dignity and exclusiveness that be- 
longs to the commander, and the gravity of any situation 
which would require him to interfere with the officer of 
the deck. It so happened that while we were in the 
"variables," one of these "vortical condensations," of un- 
usual blackness, attracted Mr. Howell's attention. There 
is a light air, just filling the royals. He waits a while 
to see what the deck-officer will do ; but finally, as that 
gentleman seems quite oblivious of danger, he approaches 
him. 



CHAFFING A LANDSMAN 1 93 

" Mr. Wilson, that's an ugly-looking squall to wind- 
ward ! " Wilson nods towards it thoughtfully, and then 
goes on tapping the rail with his trumpet to the cadence 
of some far-off music, in which he seems quite absorbed. 

" Don't you think you'd better get in your light sail ? " 
the " soger " persists, after waiting impatiently a moment 
or two for action. 

The officer stretches himself with a lazy yawn. " Oh, 
I guess there's time enough. That's a long way off yet." 

Howell waits a while. At last he is sure the squall is 
almost upon us, and can endure the suspense no longer. 
He approaches the horse-block for a last appeal. 

" Mr. Wilson, you'll certainly have the sticks out of the 
ship if you wait any longer ! " 

" No, I reckon not," Wilson answers calmly. " Pretty 
heavy squall, I'll admit, Mr. Howell. But I'll jerk in the 
light sails, and be ready to clew down topsails before it 
reaches us — never fear." 

Howell is, however, of a different mind, and determined 
that the Alabama shall not be capsized or dismasted by 
the foolhardiness of a sailorman who is too jealous of his 
dignity to be advised. So he ventures on his intimacy 
with Semmes, and hurries down with a report. " Old 
Beeswax " is in some way persuaded to come on deck, 
when he instantly takes in the situation. But he does not 
smile, only remarks, — 

" Well, Mr. Wilson, you have a black cloud to wind- 
ward. I don't think there's anything in it, but it's quite 
as well not to trust a squall. Take in your light canvas, 
and look to your topsail halyards." 

This delivered, he returns below, leaving Howell to 
enjoy his triumph. But when the ship is denuded, and 
the cloud passes over without so much as a breath of 
wind in it, he begins to notice the smile going round, and 
realize he has given Wilson serious offence by his inter- 



194 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

ference, and hastily seeks his stateroom and the consola- 
tion of his guitar. It was some time before he permitted 
his constitutional dread of dark clouds to prompt him to 
appeal again to Semmes. The words the captain had 
used, and his quiet manner in directing the officer of the 
deck, conveyed, on reflection, no compliment either to his 
sagacity or sense of responsibility. It was a peculiarity 
of Semmes that he could reprove an impertinence effect- 
ually without seeming to be aware of it at all. And in 
some cases he was generous enough to look over errors 
rather than compromise the dignity of his officers. 

It is now the middle of December, and we have crossed 
the Gulf of Siam with a fresh monsoon, and without a 
capture or incident of note, except the small excitement 
now and then of a dolphin hauled on board by some lucky 
fisherman. We ran in, and anchored in deep water off 
the Island of Aor, at the mouth of the Malacca Strait. 
We were soon surrounded with the trading-boats of the 
natives ; and a lively trade, principally with pipes and to- 
bacco, was established for the usual products of this lati- 
tude. The persons of the men here, and women too, are 
protected from the gaze by a simple clout, the weather 
requiring no clothing the year round, and no impulse of 
nature or education suggesting it. It has struck us at all 
the points visited in these seas, that curiosity as to who or 
what we are does not seem to bother these islanders at all. 
No questions as to antecedents, or where bound, or what 
doing. They are born traders, and attach more value to 
tobacco, muslin, cloth, and gimcracks than English silver. 
In their peregrinations over the ship we had no occasion 
to watch them, having found them honest towards us ; and 
yet, in a way, they are the veriest thieves and vagabonds 
alive, looting shipwrecked vessels, and not stopping at the 
taking of life if opposed. Perhaps petty thieving is be- 
neath their dignity. They may want a whole ship. Nor 



PULO AOR I95 

hav r e they the incentive of want ; for such a thing as real 
hard labor is not known among them, the climate supply- 
ing every necessity without money and without price. 

In the meantime what has become of the Wyoming ? 
We have cruised and bowed around everywhere, have been 
reported at Batavia and Anger Point, as here, there, and 
everywhere, and yet we have had no news of her since 
leaving the lower strait. We are now bound to Singapore. 
Perhaps we may clash there. But we begin to think 
Othello's occupation is gone. We saunter and loaf from 
cape to cape, headland to strait, yet interview none but 
neutrals. We visited the shore here. Pulo Aor is but a 
repetition of the islands of this group ; the natives, a jolly, 
rollicking, take-the-world-easy set, go fishing when they 
fancy that diet, and to the fruit-trees when the stomach 
suggests it. They have some idea of music, but it seems 
to require the most inharmonic discords to gratify it. Or 
perhaps it runs entirely to rhythm, which they are unwill- 
ing to dilute with harmony. They use it to dance by at 
any rate. In this recreation the women alone seem to do 
the leg-business ; the men choose places of vantage at the 
corners of the huts, and seat themselves. The women 
who do not dance are not allowed to sit, and they are use- 
ful at the castanets while their lords whack the tom-toms. 
The dancers keep excellent time, and the dance is quite 
graceful — something on the minuet order. The crew, 
oddly enough, do not care to go ashore, though the place 
is a veritable garden of Eden, with plenty of Adam and 
Eve in it. The people here are quite exempt from the 
" curse " of labor and the evolutions of the fig-leaf, and 
have nothing to do but enjoy life, and trade the bounties 
of nature for such of the fruits of others' toil as they may 
fancy. 

Next morning we weigh anchor, and start under sail 
and steam for Singapore. The weather has become thick 



196 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

and rainy ; and the navigation of these waters, as the 
reader has already been told, requires our best considera- 
tion. In the end we have to come to anchor, and wait 
for the air to clear up. But soon a Malay pilot comes to 
the rescue. These fellows are safe to trust, and Semmes 
drops the responsibility upon them with a sigh of relief 
and we steam along briskly into the harbor. 

Singapore is a British possession, and the stopping-place 
of the Peninsula Oriental Co.'s steamers. It occupies the 
southern coast of the Island of Malacca for several miles, 
spread out along the water-front. At the time of this 
visit of the Alabama, it contained a population of about one 
hundred and twenty thousand, of as mixed a character as 
that of the renowned fortress of Gibraltar. Of these, about 
half were Chinese, and in their control lay the mass of the 
commerce that poured into this central depot from all parts 
of the far East. But there were also Japanese, Siamese, 
Sumatrans, Hindoos, New Zealanders, Persians, Bornese, 
and besides, the representatives of every Eastern and 
Western race under the sun. Of course John Bull, the 
Lord Paramount, is there ; but even he is overshadowed, 
in all matters except that of political rule and protection, 
by the industrious and wily Chinaman. It is only in situ- 
ations where his influence is dominant, and the protection 
of justly administered laws is secured to him, that one can 
note how great a commercial talent John Chinaman has. 
With all disadvantages he will distance other competitors, 
and nothing but the lack of moral vigor and capacity for 
noble aspiration prevents him from taking a high rank 
among the peoples of the earth. In the mechanical and 
industrial arte his ability to execute is well known. But 
the inspirational and inventive faculty seems to have died 
out. 

The first news that greeted us on our arrival was that 
we had been playing fast and loose with the Wyoming. 




Master's Mate George T. Fulham 



ARRIVAL AT SI XG A PORE 1 97 

She had followed or anticipated us wherever we had been, 
but somehow managed to miss the golden moment. We 
are beginning to realize that this sort of thing happens too 
often to be deemed accident or "good luck." There is a 
special providence in it ; and its chief medium is the 
reticent, thoughtful man who directs our times and places, 
and quietly demonstrates that the Southern Confederacy 
has naval genius enough to defy the best counsels of her 
foe, if not the overwhelming superiority of his resources. 
It can be said with simple truth that the officers and crew 
of the Alabama to a man (and I certainly do not except 
Semmes) would have liked well enough to try issues with 
this pursuer. But the real triumph was not to meet, or 
e^en to destroy her, but to elude and defy her. When 
the Alabama was of no more use as a scourge to her 
enemy's commerce it would be time enough to risk her 
bones. The commander was not the sort of man to be 
tempted from his deliberate purpose by passion, ambition, 
or any other weakness, noble or ignoble. Looking back 
at it all now, one can hardly escape from the conviction 
that a man who could do what Semmes did, and do it so 
faithfully and successfully, must have possessed the very 
greatest qualities, not only of a naval officer, but also for 
any dignity of public life or of affairs. There is nothing in 
the final sacrifice of the Alabama to offset this conclusion. 
Her work was done, and the cause for which she toiled 
was then lost. She had returned from her work to report 
it completed ; and it was most fitting — and even Semmes 
could have planned nothing more fitting — that she should 
now meet, with the wounds and infirmities of her long 
triumph upon her, the fate which warriors of all ages have 
accounted most glorious. Duke est pro patria tnori. 



198 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER XI 

ENGLISH HOSPITALITY ; IDLE AMERICAN SHIPPING IN PORT J 
A FIGHT WITH YANKEE SKIPPERS J A CAB-RACE \ A 
GENEROUS OFFER J U. S. GUNBOAT WYOMING ; A SUSPI- 
CIOUS CASE J SEMMES AS BOARDING-OFFICER ; CHRIST- 
MAS IN THE MALACCA STRAITS \ A BOAT FLEET. 

We exchange courtesies with the governor of the isl- 
and, an English officer, and colonel of the garrison. His 
official home is on the outskirts of the city, hid away in 
a very jungle of tropical verdure. Our experience of 
English hospitality is at once renewed. No objection 
is made to our coaling and provisioning ; and we are 
bidden to make ourselves at home, and st.ay as long as 
suits our convenience. Of private hospitality and cour- 
tesy we are also made the immediate recipients, and to 
a degree that taxes our fullest capacity of acceptance. 
Our correspondence alone would give plenty of employ- 
ment to a qualified private secretary, if we could find 
one. Just at first, our officers are at liberty to enter 
into the whirlpool of social dissipation, the ship-duties 
being reduced by our considerate first luff to the mini- 
mum consistent with good order and discipline. The 
crew are also allowed liberty ; but with the reasonable 
fear on our part that the result must be the shortening 
of our own. We have had experience of these visits to 
English colonial ports, and have little doubt that our full 
staff will shortly be needed to search the by-ways of 
sailor-town, and save the fragments of Jack. We are 
moored to the docks of the Peninsular Oriental Com- 



WE EXCHANGE COURTESIES 1 99 

pany, from which we have had to purchase our coal ; 
there is none to be had elsewhere. The company does 
not deal in coals ; and we were under great obligation 
to them for the sale of what was so indispensable to us, 
especially as the price was very moderate. 

Moored to the dock as we are, the ship becomes at 
once the scene of bustle and disorder ; a perfect pande- 
monium of sound and babel of tongues ; our ship overrun 
with people of all climes, chattering and gesticulating as 
so many apes. The officers' quarters have to be guarded 
by our men to exclude the rabble, and announce the im- 
portant caller. Our decks are begrimed with coal-dust ; 
the song of the Malay coal-passers mingling with the 
cries of the fruit-vender. Truly the Alabama has been 
boarded and carried by overwhelming numbers and with- 
out resistance. 

Our crew are having a good port rest, no coaling or 
other work to do. One would think the days of patient 
labor spent at Pulo Condore a waste of time and raw ma- 
terial, and that Kell would be disheartened and disgusted 
with the sight of his idol in such sad plight ; but we must 
take the bitter with the sweet ; holystones and paint will 
correct the most of it as soon as we get to sea, and our 
worthies over their headaches. Excursions to the town 
are the order of the day, the ship being a long distance 
from the city proper, and the ubiquitous cabman called 
into requisition. It is doubtful if ever such a harvest of 
fares poured into the coffers of these Jehus ; the distance 
from the city to our ship being great, and the sun's rays 
too scorching for a walk. It may be safely asserted 
that the stock of New York in cabs could have found 
service during our short stay. It was the privilege of 
the writer and messmates to form the acquaintance of 
Mr. Beaver, of the firm of Cumming, Beaver, & Co., 
London and Singapore merchants, and become indebted 



200 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

to him for many attentions and delicate evidences of 
sympathy and friendship. Nothing was left undone for 
our amusement and comfort that could suggest itself. 
Our ship's affairs were in his able hands ; and through 
him the labors of our industrious paymaster were re- 
duced to the minimum, and all the intricacies of bargain 
and trade smoothed out. To the officers on pleasure 
bound he was adviser and guide ; and when the labors 
of the day were over with him, and the round of pleas- 
ure and sight-seeing with us, his home was the haven 
where our rest and refreshment awaited us. Indeed, 
we could not very well have dispensed with his care, and 
have achieved a tithe of the enjoyment he managed to 
secure for us. The same completeness of hospitality 
at his London home was later extended to the writer. 
Of generous and whole-souled English hospitality, we 
never met with a more notable example ; and the officers 
of the Alabama did not lack for the kindness of Eng- 
lishmen. We roam from ship to town, and return each 
time on some new pleasure bound. The principal hotel 
of the place is, of course, landlorded by an Englishman ; 
and here we find all the accompaniments of a hotel on the 
European plan, — billiards, ten-pin alley, and, to our as- 
tonishment, the " simon pure " American " bar," with its 
world of mixed drinks, including the insinuating concoc- 
tion with "grass" in it. We met at this hotel cafe the 
representatives of the great American clipper fleet, caged 
up in this harbor, passing away the time waiting for some 
Britisher with plethoric pocket-book to suggest a trade 
and a change of flag for his ship, or for the Wyoming to 
come along and bury the bones of the " piratical corsair " 
in the waters of the Malacca Strait, and free them. 

We found here, upon our arrival, twenty-two American 
clippers rotting at their anchors, — birds escaped from the 
flushed and frightened covey, taken to refuge in the Brit- 



THE COURTESY OF A FOE 201 

ish swamp ; and we expected, upon entering the billiard 
parlor of the hotel, an unwelcome reception. Our party 
of some four or five from the ship were enjoying the 
pleasure of the game and the aforesaid concoction with 
"grass" in it, when we were, to our surprise, approached 
by a group of American skippers ; and upon an acquaint- 
ance of their own seeking, our party are invited to par- 
take of their hospitality. The invitation seemed extended 
in an open, manly way ; and, sailor-like, we grasped the ex- 
tended hands of our once-countrymen, and were ready for 
the fashions. Prudent it would have been to beware 
the Greeks and those bearing presents ; for a toast pro- 
posed by our newly acquired acquaintances bore on its 
face an affront that called the hot blood in play ; and soon 
the quiet coffee-room was the scene of an uproar equalling 
that of a Donnybrook fair ( minus shillalahs ). Our oppo- 
nents were seriously worsted ; so much so that prudence 
suggested our seeking the ship at once, a question of appeal 
to municipal law looming up. We were none too soon. 
The cab-race between the police and our Jehu equalled 
that of John Gilpin against time. Our heroes of the 
laid-up fleet had not counted on the hidden muscular 
force of our stalwart engineer officers. The affair, which 
was a clear case of in vino Veritas, blew over, and be- 
came the subject of merriment and joke ; not, however, 
without a mild demand of the police on our commander 
for our persons. It was evidently a perfunctory appeal ; 
and, besides, our flag protected us with its weak but law- 
ful folds. 

You may be sure our American colony here is stirred to 
the depths, even the ladies and missionaries of the North- 
ern church taking a hand. These latter became men-of- 
war, and breathed out threatenings and wrath, and with 
the American consul were plotting schemes and plans for 
our destruction ; based, however, on the chance of com- 



202 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

municating with their champion, the all-important Wyo- 
ming, as they could not hold the small boy till the large 
one came back home. The thing to do was to appraise her 
of our presence, and to allure us to stay. And to these 
ends all the arts of strategy were called in play. We are 
twitted through the English press at this point as being 
afraid of the American cruiser ; charged with being bold 
and industrious in burning defenceless merchant ships, 
but wary and crafty as a fox in skulking from the presence 
of a man-of-war of equal power. These efforts of harm- 
less "stink-pot" throwing were like pouring water on a 
duck's back to Semmes. He had positive orders from his 
government to avoid an engagement with the enemy's 
vessel's of whatever size or strength. The inherent clash 
and bravery of the man dared to disobey an order that 
was explicit and founded upon wisdom, but not until his 
own judgment approved the time. He could see through 
these newspaper intermeddlers ; and if he felt their insin- 
uations, it was doubtless rather for his officers and men 
than on his own account. He could afford to await the 
justification of the event. 

We have to acknowledge the receipt of an acceptable 
and handsome present at this port, consisting of one thou- 
sand Manila cigars for each of our officers ; and, as we 
number somewhat like the locusts of Egypt, the reader 
will appreciate the scale upon which our generous friend 
dispensed his gifts. On the order of Shakespeare's Ti- 
mon of Athens, we refrain to do violence to his feelings 
by the mention of his name. He will be grieved to learn 
that most of them were offered up a sacrifice to Neptune. 
They went down in the ship off Cherbourg. We had 
many enthusiastic sympathizers at Singapore, one of them 
testifying his sincerity in a most practical way. A gun- 
boat built in England, and, if the writer's memory serves 
him, for the Taeping government (then in rebellion 



CHINESE BAZAAR AND ICE-CREAM 203 

against the Chinese Emperor), for some reason not now 
remembered, was for sale ; and our friend offered to pur- 
chase her for Semmes, and await the convenience of the 
Confederate government for his reimbursement. The offer 
was, of course, refused with profuse thanks. Still, the cir- 
cumstance conveys the estimation in which our ship and 
cause were held, and could but bind the bands of friend- 
ship with hoops of steel. 

We should not tire of this hospitable city by a stay be 
it ever so long, or fail to find profit and amusement in its 
streets and wonderful bazaars. In the latter we recognize 
the same shrewd, crafty, but cool and polished Chinese 
merchant, noted some years before by the writer at Can- 
ton. They are unexcelled in thrift or any of the require- 
ments of an accomplished merchant or tradesman. Their 
stocks are a revelation, and eclipse the shops of our own 
country vastly. The wealth of some of these traders 
equals that of our money kings of this time, and at the 
date of which we write far exceeded it. Indeed, the situ- 
ation was of this character. The Chinese merchant was 
the receiver of the riches of the archipelago, the English 
merchant the purchaser and distributer to the Western 
consumer; the heterogeneous remainder of the merchant 
and shop-keeping population merely existing on the 
crumbs of the wealthier tables. 

We were attracted by the violent ringing of a bell on 
the street, and at the same time a perceptibly quicker step 
of the throng, and were amused to learn that ice-cream 
was ready to be served at the saloons. Ice being of the 
high order of luxuries, you must rush for your refreshing 
dish with all speed or you will be left. It is not to be 
doubted that in this age of ice-machines our present in- 
habitant of the East would be as much amused as we at 
the time at the odd advertisement. 

We pay another visit to the hotel, the scene of our late 



204 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

unpleasantness. We find here a number of our new-made 
friends of the army and navy, and the time is passed in 
joke and conversation ; the latter facetiously inquiring as to 
our appetites pending the arrival of the Wyoming. We learn 
from them that the majority of the American merchant 
fleet at anchor off the city had laid up here since our arri- 
val and report at Sunda Strait. It suggested itself to them 
to ask why the United States cruiser did not convoy this 
immense fleet to sea, not seeming at first to take in the 
fact that they might be jumping out of the frying-pan into 
the fire ; and again, if they reached home in safety, the ex- 
penses must go on as usual, and there would be nothing for 
them to do. They took in the situation finally, but could 
not but be struck with the fact that all this panic was the 
result of the existence of one insignificant vessel. Well may 
the value of even one formidable cruiser of the present 
day force itself on the powers that be. What a havoc she 
would make against the commerce of such a nation as Eng- 
land or the German Empire ! If we may take the career of 
our ship as a criterion, the number and power of the pur- 
suers does not seem to be a factor towards success. The 
difficulty of overhauling seems the puzzle. A ship at sea 
is like a needle in a haystack. We just learned that the 
Wyoming had been at Rhio, a Dutch possession, and coaled 
ship. She must have been hunting us all the time under 
steam ; so that we have in our late hunting expedition after 
the China fleet crossed each other's tracks several times. 

We must turn our attention somewhat to the crew. 
Moored to the coal-dock, and crowded with visitors and 
tradesmen from early morn to late eve, our fellows have 
every opportunity for the smuggling of grog on board. 
Indeed, Corporal Rawse, had he the eyes of Janus, could 
not keep liquor out of the ship. A most villanous distil- 
lation, too, it is. This Chinese " samshee," a production 
from rice, for rapid and effectual work would cause " Jer- 




Master's Mate James Evans 
(Scout.) 



SAMSIIEE 205 

sey lightning " to blush. The number of " snakes " in it 
would make a head of hair for Medusa. Our vagabonds 
are in every stage of drunk, from kitten playfulness to 
fighting trim, and are to be found scattered from the dock 
along the broadway into the city. No occasion for money 
to keep up the sport (so called) ; for our Jacks are the pets 
of the people, and money don't count in it. Here you will 
see an old sea-dog, making " half boards " to windward, 
coming up to the wind, and shivering his canvas, then 
steadying and filling away again. Another making better 
weather and standing before it. Our friends the cabmen 
are busy, too, with the blackguards, voyaging them from 
point to point. Our officers are hard at it, boarding and 
capturing the runaways ; the principal difficulty in the way 
being the so-called attentions and hospitality of the towns- 
people, who are making heroes of our worthies, hiding 
them away without thought of the seriousness of the fun 
to us, and supplying the liquid refreshments ad libitum. 
Our worst fears as to the loss of our crew here are not 
realized. We finally secure the most of them, and alto- 
gether through the efforts of our own young officers, with- 
out the assistance of the police-force. Sailors are more 
easily managed and led by their own officers than through 
the force of municipal law. The remembrance of severe 
training on board in obedience seems never to desert 
Jack ; and at the command of his superior usually, drunk 
to excess though he be, will fall into line, and return to 
his ship. 

We are ready for sea now, and show our appreciation of 
the kindness and attention of Her Majesty's public ser- 
vants by smuggling off enough men to supply the places 
of those we have had enticed away. We are willing to lay 
the blame of their loss on the broad shoulders of the 
American consul ; and if he is innocent we are sorry for 
it : but we must have some excuse for smuggling off these 



206 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

subjects of the Queen. Why not put it on the consul? 
What hypocritical mortals we be ! Always an excuse 
with us for dereliction of duty, or injustice done individual 
or state. 

The report comes to-day that the Wyoming is off the east- 
ern entrance of the Malacca Strait, " hove-to," and watch- 
ing for us. Be it as it may, she has lost her chance. We 
shall not go to sea by the western exit, and must, therefore, 
leave her to mourn lost opportunities. We suppose a fur- 
ther and last attempt will be made to overhaul us at the 
west end of the island, should our departure be known soon 
enough. Our slow movement through the archipelago of 
the China Sea has been noted by this time, and its repeti- 
tion through the Malacca Strait no doubt discounted. We 
have lost at this port five seamen and one messenger-boy, 
and ship in their places, as soon as we clear the port, four 
others. These men stowed themselves away on board, and 
were supposed to be on the blind side of Master-at-arms 
Rawse. James King 2d of this batch was a splendid 
specimen of an Irishman, and lost his life in the fight off 
Cherbourg. Being fatally wounded and taken to the 
Kearsarge, he died on board, and was buried from her. We 
shall have more to say of him later on. 

It was the twenty-fourth of December, 1863, when we 
left Singapore. We are ready now for the long pull back 
to the North Atlantic. Kell has his " bad boys" safe back 
home. Gait has filled the coal-bunkers and store-rooms 
through the potency of the money-safe ; and with the 
Malay pilot on board and steam up, we cast off from 
the dock ; and amid the cheess of the vast multitude on the 
shores, and the waving of handkerchiefs from the ladies, 
we wind and twist through the immense fleet of American 
clippers at anchor, and soon leave sight and sense of this 
cosmopolitan city in the past. 

We had cleared the coal-docks early in the morning ; 



CAPTURE OF THE TEXAN STAR 20J 

and just about twelve o'clock, dinner-hour, the cry comes 
from the lookout aloft, " Sail ho ! " It being dinner-hour, 
and the men at their messes, the cry made no excitement, 
as we were sighting and exchanging colors with vessels 
constantly, the mass of them showing in rig and hull the 
truth of their bunting thrown out for our inspection. We 
soon came up with the sail, and hove her to with a blank 
cartridge, her build positively showing her American ori- 
gin. She displayed, however, the English ensign at her 
peak ; and Master' s-mate Fulham was sent on board of her. 
He soon returned, and reported the vessel as the English 
ship Martaban, of Maulmain, India, for Singapore with 
rice ; and that her papers were all in due form, register, 
and clearance signed and properly attested by the custom 
house officers ; but that the surroundings did not fully sat- 
isfy him, the crew being the greater part Americans, and 
both of the mates long, slab-sided specimens of the Down- 
east sailor. Further to excite his suspicions, Fulham ex- 
plained to our captain that the reason he had not brought 
the skipper on board was that he threw himself on his rights 
as an English subject, and refused to come on board our 
ship and bring his papers. Fulham was a bright fellow, 
an Englishman, used to the appearances of an English 
ship ; and in this taunt, clipperbuilt vessel, with her flaring 
bow and sky-scraping skysail masts, with the addition 
of a raw-boned skipper talking through his nose, and 
the further adjunct of two mates of the same model and 
rig, could not reconcile the tout ensemble. There was 
nothing to do but to let her pass on to her port only a 
few hours sail off, or our captain must board her. " The 
mountain won't come to Mohammed ; Mohammed must 
go to the mountain." The gig is manned ; and for the 
first and last time of our cruise Semmes assumes the 
part of a boarding-officer. Often since has the writer 
thought that had this boarding event taken place off the 



208 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

banks of Newfoundland in the winter season, our worthy 
commander could more fully appreciate the danger and 
discomfort of the trip. The weather was beautiful, how- 
ever, just now, and the sea smooth. From all accounts, 
there was a stormy scene on board the Martaban. Her 
suspicious make-up militated against the ship ; still, there 
was no serious flaw in her papers, and it became a mo- 
mentous question. We had just left John Bull ; and he 
had been a good fellow to us, and had as much right 
to buy an American vessel as any one else, and having 
paid for her, and holding his receipt for the purchase 
money, to hoist his flag, and drive his bargains under it 
at will. The puzzle to Semmes was why, if transferred, 
did the vessel still retain an American skipper and mates ? 
Our captain, however, took the "bull by the horns," and 
assuming the risk, turn out as it might, informed the 
skipper he should burn his vessel. Under strong pro- 
test the ship was prepared for the torch. Removing 
the crew and chronometer, Fulham fires the prize. The 
last hope abandoned, our captain, by a little gentle 
handling and cross-questioning, draws from the skipper 
the plain, unvarnished tale. The vessel just destroyed 
was the Texan Star of Maine, but under bogus name 
and papers. So we were not to be blown out of water 
by John Bull for the rash act of destroying one of his 
ships, and making prisoners of English subjects. Strange 
to say, Bulloch (now our sailing-master, and in charge 
of the captured flags and chronometers) has an English 
ensign, instead of an American, to tag and turn over 
to the signal quartermaster's care to represent a cap- 
ture. 

Fulham afterwards remarked he was never in such a 
dilemma before. He did not wish to hurt the skipper's 
feelings, representing, as he did, a flag towards which, 
as an Englishman, his sympathies decidedly and naturally 



IN THE MALACCA STRAITS 209 

tended. Yet there were so many ear-marks of Yankee 
ownership to be argued away he could not make up 
his mind to let her go before fully communicating to 
Semmes his doubts and suspicions. It was against rea- 
son to associate that flag with the twang of the raw- 
boned Down-east skipper and his mates ; for surely its 
folds were utterly distasteful to them. The sequel was, 
of course, most gratifying to our vigilant boarding-master. 

After the firing of the prize, her skipper, finding we 
were not disposed to criticize his questionable methods, 
became quite resigned and sociable ; the easing of his 
mind to Semmes satisfying his conscience, no doubt. 
With the crime attached to the forgery of ship's papers, 
we had nothing to do. It was a matter absolutely be- 
tween himself and the British government. We never 
found her proper flag ; so Bulloch had to represent her 
capture by an alien ensign, and Semmes by forged papers. 

We run in and anchor at nightfall off the little village of 
Malacca. We had burned the Texan Star on Christmas 
Eve, and to-morrow we shall pass our second Christmas 
(1863) in the Malacca Straits. Our last was spent at the 
Areas Islands, Gulf of Mexico. What changes have come 
to the panorama of our lives in the short year ! And, 
meantime, thousands of new-made graves of our heroes 
are turfed now by the departed summer, the wounds of 
the sod healed, leaving those of the widow, parent, and 
child still open and bleeding. Ah, if this year of toil 
and success could have brought us evidence of triumph 
for our cause on home soil ! But that was not written 
in our horoscope. All this watching, hardship, anxiety, 
and hope, withered leaves to be ! 

In the morning permission is had from the English 
commandant to land the prisoners ; and the character of 
our vessel soon being noised about, the officers of the 
garrison and their families pay us a visit. The same 



2IO TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

scenes as at Singamore are re-enacted — on a very small 
scale, but with the same hearty English warmth. Remain- 
ing long enough to land our prisoners, and give the colony 
time to inspect our ship, we bid adieu to both ; and with 
hearty exchanges of " Merry Christmas " and " Happy 
New Year," steam away, leaving them to the joys of the 
season, a boon beyond our reach. We pass our day, 
each rather gloomily wrapped in his own thoughts. 
What a Christmas to our beloved land — this day of 
peace and good-will among men ! We had opportunity 
to replenish our supply of fruit and vegetables, but no 
run on shore, excepting the boat's crew ; hence have no 
pleasant recollections of the little colony. We pass a 
number of foreign sails during the day, and at eight 
bells (supper-hour) give the only public reminder of the 
day by " splicing the main-brace ; " and though all hands 
have had a heavy pull at the Chinese ardent the past 
few days, still a " tot " of pure " Jamaica " may come 
in play> as "the hair of the dog is good for the bite." 

We are moving along under steam ; and just after din- 
ner make from the mast-head, dead ahead, two ships at 
anchor in the strait, waiting a fair wind. They have all 
the appearance of Americans in their spars ; though we 
have no opportunity of judging from the cut of their sails, 
they being clewed up and furled. But Evans pronounces 
them the right sort to our wishes. A short steam, and we 
are alongside of them. We show our bright white flag with 
the cross and stars, — a strange flag to these skippers, 
as well as to the rest of our recent visitors ; for we had 
only made and bent it since reaching the East and learn- 
ing of the change. There is no occasion for subterfuges ; 
so we are answered at once by the stars and stripes from 
both of them. On boarding, they proved to be the 
Sonora, of Newburyport, and the Highlander, of Boston, 
bound in ballast from Singapore to Akyab, where they 



CAPTURE OF THE SONORA AND HIGHLANDER 211 

were to load rice for England. Delayed by calms and 
head-winds in the straits, they had fallen into our clutches. 
They were both splendid clipper ships of large tonnage. 
After overhauling them for articles we required from their 
stores, the torch was applied as usual. 

We have to-day another example of the average Ameri- 
can sailor's cheery and buoyant spirit under adversity. 
The captains of the destroyed ships, learning the uncer- 
tainty of where they might be landed, whether in Aus- 
tralia or Yokahama, if prisoners with us, — for we shall 
deliver them over to the first foreigner willing to have 
them, — expressed the wish to be allowed their boats, and 
make the trip to Singapore, distant about four hundred 
miles. Being near the equator, with a minimum chance 
of rough weather, Seraraes consented. Fitting out their 
boats with sails and oars, we provisioned them to bridge 
over any possible long voyage. Bidding us good-by, and 
with a hearty hand-shake, they shoved off in the light air 
under oars. As the boats strung out in line, the crews 
opened with a familiar sea-song. The refrain borne over 
the still waters, intermingled with the dip of the oars 
dying away gradually in the distance, emphasized the 
romance of the situation. We could but admire their 
never-say-fail pluck, and you may be sure our sailor sym- 
pathies were with them. Add the scene, — the burning 
ships near us, the roar of the fierce flames licking the 
masts and loose sails, and you have a subject for the 
painter. We move on under steam, passing the light- 
ship, into the Indian Ocean. 



212 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER XII 

WESTWARD HO ! SUMMING UP RESULTS \ SUNNY SEAS ; 
ROUTINE WORK ; PICTURES OF SHIP LIFE ; A BARME- 
CIDE FEAST J BAY OF BENGAL ; CEYLON J MALABAR 
COAST ; A SEA OF FIRE ; ELECTRIC SQUALLS 

We had entered the Sunda straits the first day of No- 
vember, and re-enter the Indian Ocean Dec. 25, 1863. 
We have to sum up as the result of the hunt six vessels 
of the enemy destroyed, and all first-class and valuable 
prizes. We have escaped the dangers of the intricate 
navigation of the lower China Sea. Above all, we have 
had proof of the indirect damage we have done our enemy, 
not only in the American fleet idling away the time at 
Singapore, but in the assurance that others are laid up at 
all the ports of the East from Japan to Shanghai, and the 
other four free ports of China, and in the English, Span- 
ish, and Dutch colonies of the lower archipelago. We 
have swept morally as with a net the whole Eastern seas. 
It will be some time before the game peeps out of the 
covers, even after our departure is known ; and then the 
fear of capture nearer home will at least keep them out of 
the home-carrying trade. We shall be reported at Singa- 
pore, by our two captured skippers, as bound west. But 
who will insure their bones now under the flag of the 
United States ? 

We now coast along the western side of the island of 
Sumatra before letting go for our stretch over to India. 
We overhaul in the next week many vessels, but all 
neutrals. Indeed, it is getting so now that but little in- 




Master's Mate Baron Max Von Mulnier 



ROUTINE WORK 21$ 

terest is taken in the hail from the mast-head ; and Evans 
has put away his glasses, formerly worn as constantly as 
the Western pioneer wears his six-shooter. Even the hint 
from aloft that the stranger is American has ceased to 
excite the pulse, so often has it proven a snare and a de- 
lusion. Transfers are so common of late in the vessels 
overhauled that the excitement of the chase has passed 
away forever ; and if one proves a prize finally, the fact 
develops so gradually that its announcement from the 
cabin of our ship has no effect upon our emotions. 

We have settled down once more to the ordinary rou- 
tine of ship duties, and are engaged in putting our cruiser 
in man-of-war trim ; all departments under the mechanical 
and nautical heads at work at the various jobs ; and the 
first lieutenant perambulating the spar-deck, up and down, 
ordering here and suggesting there. Boatswain Mecaskey 
may be heard piping the belay of some work completed to 
his satisfaction. The plane or adze of carpenter Robinson 
is smoothing or trimming a timber ; gunner Cuddy and 
mates, pots in hand, are polishing up the battery ; sail- 
maker Alcott is mending a rent in an awning ; Jack, 
seated on deck, a midshipman looking on admiringly, is 
pointing a main-brace ; a top-man swung around the main- 
mast on a triangle is slushing down the mast. On the 
yard-arms and rigging, top-men here and there, under the 
supervision of boatswain Mecaskey, are securing chaffing- 
gear on the yards and rigging. The signal quartermaster 
is airing with proud consequence his mass of flags, the 
trophies of our captures, and no doubt as proud of them 
as the Indian of his scalps or the hunter of his antlers. 
An old quartermaster off watch will be doing some em- 
broidery work for one of the messenger-boys he has taken 
under his wing. Forward, out of the way of the working- 
gangs, groups are deeply engaged in the intricacies of 
checkers, or passing their opinions of this or that move 



214 T]V0 YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

on the board. Jack is an expert at this game. You 
had better not tackle him except to improve your own 
experience. 

On the quarter-deck you may observe a midshipman or 
two engaged under sailing-master Bulloch, taking a sight 
with his sextant for longitude, or marking time by the 
chronometer for him. On the quarter-deck is the leader 
of us all, Commander Semmes, — the man we have fol- 
lowed now for many weary months. Where he has di- 
rected, we have gone confidently. He has carried us so 
far without a disaster ; and we would trust him to the 
utmost, and follow still. He is pacing the deck, his brow 
contracted, pulling, as is his wont, at his gray moustache. 
Back and forth he strides, not a word to any one. He is 
in deep communion with his own thoughts. What can 
be so occupying him that he is oblivious to surroundings ? 
Perhaps hatching some deep scheme for future punish- 
ment of his enemy. Maybe his thoughts are reverting 
to our dear land in the last throes of a sinking cause ; for 
he is only human like ourselves, and under a haughty 
bearing carries a touch of sympathy for sorrow, and love 
for home. He may be in a day-dream now, bringing dear 
ones close to himself in fancy. Be his thoughts what 
they may, the silent man before you will never seek your 
sympathy for himself. 

" That man of loneliness end mystery, 

Scarce seen to smile, and seldom heard to sigh, 
Whose name appals the fiercest of his crew, 
And tints each swarthy cheek with sallower hue, 
Still sways their souls with that commanding art 
That dazzles, leads, yet chills the vulgar heart. 



What should it be that thus their faith can bind? 
The power of Thought — the magic of the Mind? 
Linked with success, assumed and kept with skill 
That moulds another's weakness to its will; 



SEMMES AND JUS OFFICERS 21 5 

Wields with their hands, but still to these unknown 
Makes even their mightiest deeds appear his own : 
Such hath it been - — shall be — beneath the sun 
The many men must labor for the one. 
'Tis Nature's doom; but let the wretch who toils 
Accuse not, hate not, him who wears the spoils. 
Oh ! if he knew the weight of splendid chains, 
How light the balance of his humbler pains ! " 

And here you have, reader, a rough sketch of many 
such deck-scenes for the next few weeks, as we wend our 
way to the Indian continent. 

Semmes was happily situated in his officers ; all of them 
with the exception of the executive and chief engineer 
being young men in their twenties, of fine physique and 
robust constitutions ; many of them descendants of old 
naval families, intelligent, and with the marked difference 
in rank and age between the leader and themselves, could 
but naturally look up to him for guidance, and with full 
confidence. They had most of them been under fire be- 
fore, many of them frequently. And as it was not long 
after inaugurating the cruise that Semmes discovered their 
ability in practical seamanship, he was much relieved in 
mind and body, and enabled to take regular rest at night, 
feeling full assurance that the deck was ably manned, and 
did not hesitate to say so frequently. Indeed, in chase 
and manoeuvring around prizes, he seldom offered a sug- 
gestion after passing the word as to his wishes. In prac- 
tical navigation Semmes undoubtedly had no equal on the 
cruiser, having had many years experience on the Coast 
Survey. In knowledge of international law, there was 
no one on the vessel at all competent besides himself. 
Indeed, we should not be far amiss in stating that he had 
no equal in this line in either navy. He had made an 
especial study of it. It stood him well on many occasions, 
nor did he ever come out of a controversy in this connec- 
tion second-best. Had the watch-officers under Semmes 



2l6 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

not fully answered to his expectations and hopes as sea- 
men, and relieved him thus of much care, his career would 
doubtless have been shortened ; for as it was, the three 
years of active service in the Sumter and Alabama left 
him quite a physical wreck, as he freely admitted. 

And here (to stray a bit from the subject-matter in 
hand) is food for reflection in the matter of the slow pro- 
motion in the navy of our country at this day. Long be- 
fore an officer has reached a responsible position, he has 
passed the age to stand the hard knocks and irregular 
life experienced by the working-officers of the Alabama. 
There seems but one way out of this dilemma, — a more 
generous retired list. 

We have rigged a bottle from the foretopmast-studding- 
yard-arm, and have the divisions under marine-officer 
Howell practising pistol-drill. Jack always will be an 
awkward fellow with small-arms. And as soon as the 
weapon is handed him to illustrate the lesson, Howell had 
better get out of the way, for the lad is more apt to 
" pink " a marine-officer than the suspended bottle. It 
is an amusing but dangerous pastime, watching Jack's 
revolver-practice. So with infantry-drill. Our worthy 
drill-master has a squad, a gun-division of men, putting 
them through the manual of arms. Now, if you, reader, 
have been in the army, and imagine you can "coach" the 
job, Howell will cheerfully hand these to-be-made soldiers 
over to you ; and if your exhaustion at the end of the at- 
tempt does not surpass that of a rapid day's march — well, 
you shall drill them hereafter. Attempt to " dress " the 
squad, and a " Virginny fence" is a mathematically straight 
line alongside Jack's alignment ; and as to marching and 
countermarching — after he has " weighed anchor " with 
them and "filled away," you can find them meandering 
the spar-deck like a grazing flock of sheep, — some on 
the quarter-deck, and others on the topgallant-forecastle. 



PICTURES OF SHIP LIFE 2\"J 

Falstaff s ragamuffins answer to Howell's pets. No ! 
Jack is at home behind a big gun ; there is some " heft " 
to that : but he looks upon a rifle as a toy, and has only 
contempt for it. Throw him, however, on the deck of an 
enemy, and he will, in his own awkward but vigorous way, 
handle his cutlass and bayonet with good effect. Dear 
old shipmate Howell, now sleeping quietly in his own 
sunny South, how the recollection of fun poked at you 
after your return from the deck, exhausted and upset in 
temper, pricks the memory now ! If ever man was dubbed 
patriot for serving his country faithfully and patiently, 
you deserved the name after a morning of squad-drill ! 

We are running along the Sumatra coast, weather fine, 
and all who are off duty can enjoy the scene. Fish are 
abundant in these waters, and the trolling-line is furnishing 
us with a dolphin now and then. We will visit the ward- 
room mess this fine morning. Kell and Gait are engaged in 
the intricacies of a game of chess, heads down and elbows 
on the table ; Gait has his opponent in a tight place, and is 
patiently awaiting his next move. Parkinson, the steward, 
is busy in the pantry near by, exercising his culinary brain, 
and puzzled to invent some new dish from his limited 
stock of luxuries. Kell makes his happiest move on the 
board, followed instantly by his opponent, and with a laugh 
of triumph, " checkmate ! " With a frown and an air of 
defeat, Kell turns to the steward : " What have you for 
dinner to-day, steward ? " The cornered chef, realizing the 
state of the " first luff's " temper, " hems and haws," and 
slowly jerks out the information that the standard dish of 
" salt-horse " and rice will adorn the dinner-table. Our 
hero is a Georgian, and can manage his share of " swamp- 
seed," but does not pine for it every day. As though a 
happy thought had struck him, Kell turns to Gait, and says 
facetiously, "Let's dine at Verrey's today." — "Agreed," 
responds the latter. They had had some experience at 



21 8 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

this temple of gastronomy, and were willing to take the 
chances again, as against Parkinson's bill of fare. " Take 
up the carte" says Kell ; "you order the dinner, Gait." — 
" What do you say to green turtle, for soup ? " — " Admira- 
ble ! " — " How about turbot, next ? " — " To the Queen's 
taste!" — "And now; well?" — "Roast beef rare, and 
pheasant, and — Well," — what is it, messenger-boy ? " — 
"Please, sir," touching his front lock, hat in hand, "the 
master-at-arms has a couple of men at the mast, sir ; 
been fighting, sir." The dinner at Verrey's is ordered 
to be kept hot ; and Kell mounts the companion ladder to 
take a hand in the row. We leave Gait to retrospective 
dreams of the dinner, and visit old Joe Wilson in his state- 
room. Joe has vamosed from the " country " to have a 
quiet retired "air" on his guitar all to himself, and is 
assaying a love-song, no doubt suggested by thoughts of 
his inamorata awaiting in far-away Florida his return 
with glory and prize-money. Joe is not like his mocking- 
birds at home, first-class as a songster ; but he fingers his 
guitar well. " Come in, old fellow ; I want to play an 
accompaniment for you! " And soon the book, draughts, 
chess, and the learned argument are dropped ; and Joe's 
-privacy is utterly wrecked. First one and then another 
of the glee-club take a turn at a song ; and, the ward- 
room members of the club exhausted, the guitar is taken 
to the steerage and the music continued ; and thus we 
while away the hours of leisure. 

We also may visit the steerage, and taking a camp-stool 
observe our midshipman youth. Here is one deeply en- 
gaged in the mysteries of "pointing" a bit of rope as 
exercise in the line of his profession. He is wrapped up 
so deeply in the intricacies of the task as to be lost to all 
around him. Suddenly he rises, and, reaching the deck, 
interviews the boatswain or one of his mates ; and having 
been led out of the puzzle by explanation or help, returns 



PAYING VISITS 219 

to the steerage and his task. Here also you find one of 
Bulloch's pupils deeply engaged working out a sight re- 
cently taken to determine the longitude ; and to watch his 
serious face, you would suppose the captain or the sailing- 
master is awaiting it, to prick off the position of the ship 
on the chart. But they are not anxious, having already 
performed this task. Another youngster has his " ditty- 
bag" out, and is perspiring over a rude attempt to darn a 
pair of dilapidated socks or sew on a button. All are busy 
here, and at something useful. It is too light for pranks 
yet ; they want the dim of the lantern for this ; and argu- 
ment is a peg too high for our middy ; he leaves this to 
the erudite occupant of the wardroom. He has been 
taught practically that " sea-lawyers " cannot vegetate 
luxuriously in a steerage. They are very quiet, industri- 
ous chaps just now : but you had better not trust them 
with a fair opportunity for mischief ; they are as full of 
undeveloped deviltry as your college sophomore, and 
rather more reckless of dignities. Their only absolute 
immorality, however, is prigging grog out of Higgs's 
tub. 

We may pay a visit also to engineer O'Brien. We are 
on a round of cruising, enjoying the tramp as the Yankee 
old maid does the rounds of a village. " Well, good-morn- 
ing, Matt; how is the old 'tea-kettle' getting along?" 
(You must know the boilers of the ship are in a most 
dilapidated state.) " Well, we are nursing them ; but it 
can't be long before they will be about like so much coral, 
the salt-water has honey-combed them so." — "I hope 
you'll get us to the English Channel anyhow before the 
blow-up comes off. By the way, Matt, can't you let a 
fellow have a gallon of fresh water if he sends the boy for 
it ? You know it's hard lines this hot weather on allow- 
ance." — "Yes; but don't let the chief know it." We 
thank him, and depart. You must know one gallon is the 



220 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

daily allowance for all purposes, and comes hard in the 
tropics. 

Let's go forward and listen to Jack spin a yarn or two. 
Here they are, dinner over, but not the exhilaration of the 
stiff " tot " of grog ; and the fellows are loquacious over 
their pipes. A story has been started. " Well, you see, 
when I was in the Narcissus frigate, in the South Sea 
Islands, our admiral was paying a visit of return to the 
American commodore. I was ' bow ' in his gig's crew, 
and the coxswain in the stern-sheets, sitting on the rail, 
steering. There was a large ' man-eater ' keeping with 
the boat ; the nasty brute gliding along and showing his 
fin. Don't you know, I thought something ugly was going 
to happen." — " Of course," chimed in the audience, now 
excited and anticipating. " Well, the first thing you knew, 
Bill Bowling lost his balance from the stern-sheets, and 
overboard he went. The admiral lost his coxswain, for all 
we saw was a dart by of the shark, and a streak of blood on 
the water. Well, the admiral kept on and paid the visit ; 
and the next day, don't you think, here comes Bill Bow- 
ling's head alongside, wrapped up in an old newspaper, 
with the compliments of the Yankee commodore. You 
see, the men on the Constellation frigate had been fishing 
some time for this very same man-eater, and had caught 
him from the ' bridle-port ; ' and when-they cut him open, 
there was poor Tom's head in the belly." — "Humph!" 
from some doubter in the audience. " Fact, I assure you." 
— " Well, one thing more, shipmate, did poor Tom wink 
his eye ? " And a shout of laughter goes up. The yarn- 
spinner knocks the ashes from his pipe, and saunters aft at 
the pipe of the boatswain, " All hands," promising a yarn 
at supper to knock " seven bells " out of this one. 

We have thus reached the year 1864, and it looks as 
though our occupation is gone. We board vessels occa- 
sionally, but no luck. We are stretching across the Bay 




Master's Mate Julius Schroeder 



CEYLON 221 

of Bengal to round the island of Ceylon. We overhaul 
and board a British ship more for pastime and the hope of 
late newspapers than to examine her "papers." She is 
too English to suggest the hope of a bonfire. Fulham 
has a good time on her, " rigging " the passengers who 
were Mohammedans from Singapore, bound to the port of 
Jiddah, thence to the shrine of Mecca. A most remark- 
able idea had gotten abroad among them, and we had 
heard of it first at Singapore, that we carried in our hold, 
chained, an assortment of huge giants, to let loose on the 
Yankees ; and they wanted to know how " Their Royal 
Highnesses " fared. Fulham reported upon his return that 
he had found true believers among them as to the monsters, 
and that he had stuffed them to the full. We can believe 
it, for Fulham is fully competent to get off a stunner. 

We double the island of Ceylon without so much as 
the smell of a capture ; and it is the middle of January. 
We are moving along the coast of Malabar, dejected as 
the weary hound sneaking back home from his lone pri- 
vate and unsuccessful rabbit-hunt, when " Sail, ho ! " No 
particular move on the part of any one, until the scout 
has mounted the rigging, and from the cross-trees pro- 
nounces the sail American. This does not now excite 
much either ; for it does not by a deal certify a prize, so 
many of them having been transferred. We come up 
with her without the necessity of a blank cartridge. She 
proves the Emma Jane, of Bath, Maine, from Bombay to 
Amherst in ballast. See what they have come to. Wan- 
dering the earth in search of a cargo. We have no occa- 
sion for a court of condemnation, she having no cargo. 
We lay near her, removing such naval and other stores 
and provisions as in need of, and adding to our stock of 
flags and chronometers ; remove her crew and passengers, 
and apply the torch. It is the first time we have lit up 
the Indian Ocean. 



222 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Coasting along, we anchor off the small town of An- 
jenga. Communicating with the Portuguese official, per- 
mission is obtained to land the prisoners, the native 
boatmen steering them through the surf. This is an 
open roadstead. Our prisoners are provisioned, the gov- 
ernor offering to forward them to the nearest port where 
British shipping could be found, and reship them to the 
care of some consul. The natives flock about us in their 
canoes ; and we have, on a smaller scale, the counter- 
part of our late China Sea scenes. We are now busy in 
the work of swapping our sovereigns for a heterogeneous 
mass of luxuries of the table. We have been on ship's 
rations but three weeks ; still, we could put up with this 
change, and wish it to last indefinitely. The natives here 
are dark chocolate in color, finely formed, active and 
lithe figures, straight hair, and absence of Ethiopian 
features. Expert in handling their canoes in the surf, 
they would put you through the breakers, either in their 
or your own boats, and give you but a mere sprinkle of 
the salt-water. Some of our officers visit the shore and 
inspect the town, but not much is to be seen. Though 
an English possession, but few English reside here. Being 
a town of no commerce, it offers few inducements to our 
trading-friend 5°hn Bull, and is kept alive by the Hindoo- 
Portuguese inhabitants. So soon as it is known that the 
smart clipper-looking crusier in the offing is the Alabama, 
the decks are crowded with semi-nude natives of all ages 
and both sexes. They have heard of us and our exploits 
in the China Sea, even in this out-of-the-way town ; and 
though we cannot make matters as clear to them as to 
our Singapore visitors, having no interpreter, they seem 
charmed with the graceful boat. Bartelli does not seem to 
attach the importance to his visitors here as at Cape Town 
and Singapore ; and, though he has as a caller upon our 
captain the governor's son and his aid, we do not hear the 



MALABAR COAST 22$ 

pop of champagne in the cabin, nor does the young official 
emerge from the cabin with one of Semmes's manilas in 
his mouth. Our captain's steward is an aristocrat, no 
doubt. A governor's son coming on board without a vis- 
iting-card has evidently failed to make a good impression 
on our punctilious steward. Who knows but he may be 
an Italian noble, exiled from the ancestral soil ? — poor Bar- 
telli ! He was a gentle, faithful servant. The writer can 
see him now, performing his tonsorial labors in the ward- 
room ; for he was ship's barber to the whole wardroom 
mess, and took such pride and pleasure in brushing and 
platting Kell's luxurious beard ! 

But we are ready for sea, and get underway in the after- 
noon, the Ghaut mountains towering up in the distance, and 
casting their shadow over the landscape to the very beach. 
Our surfmen salaam us a good-evening as we get off ; 
and we stand through the archipelago, paralleling the Mal- 
abar coast, and then stretch over for . the Arabian Sea. 
We are in the embrace of the N. E. monsoon, blowing a 
fresh but not strong breeze ; and for two weeks not a 
brace is touched, and scarce an order given by the officer 
of the deck. So quiet is it at night, you might suppose 
the Alabama a phantom ship. We are moving along 
under full-sail royals and studding-sails alow and aloft, 
the watch on deck curled up under the weather bulwarks 
asleep, and nothing to break the silence but the sound aft 
of the eddying sea in the screw-well. The weather is 
balmy, every star scintillating in the heaven, and thin 
clouds drawn out in long, narrow ribbpns of gossamer. A 
paradise indeed is old ocean for a sailor now. Our even- 
ings are truly delightful ; and after supper Jack gathers in 
groups, and the yarn-spinner, given a point of vantage and 
where our skipper can accidentally overhear the yarn, 
begins. 

" I'll tell you what it is, shipmates, the way ' Old Bees- 



224 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

wax ' always picks out Sunday for his big licks goes to 
show he's got his weather eye on that blamed, blarsted 
Friday. Don't you see he put this here craft of ours in 
commission on Sunday. It may be chance he captures 
our first prize on Sunday ; but he picks up the California 
steamer on Sunday by regular appointment, as it were, 
with Captain Jones ; and then he sneaks up off the Texas 
coast and gathers in the Hatteras on his favorite day. 
Did you twig him run the blockade of the San Jacinto at 
Martinique on his pet clay ? So likewise from the Vander- 
bilt at Cape Town ; and bless your soul, my hearties, we 
should have tackled the Wyoming sure and no mistake 
if the old man hadn't sheered off from Friday, and closed 
in with the Sunda strait on his saint-day. ' Old Bim ' 
don't keep them little saints and angels lit up all the time 
with them wax candles in the cabin for nothing. They's 
got their little arrangement together. Don't you see Bar- 
telli firing up upon 'em all the time ? Them's the signals ! 
Yes ; give me a skipper that ain't flying in the face of 
Providence all the time by tending to business on Friday. 
I'll give you a little experience in the Formidable 
frigate. I disremember the year, but it was on a Friday. 
Our admiral would leave the roadstead 'cause we had a 
fair wind. Just think of it ! You may be sure there was 
growling and swearing fore and aft fit to lift both bowers 
from their holding-ground. But no use ; the admiral al- 
lowed it was all d — d humbug, and wasn't going to listen 
to any old woman's nonsense. Well, we got an offing by 
the skin of the maintopsail, when the wind chops round 
in our teeth and blows ' great guns.' We were close-reef- 
ing the topsails when the foot-rope on the maintopsail 
yard to leeward parts, and overboard goes half the maintop 
men." " Did you pick 'em up ? " almost gasps one of the 
listeners. " Pick 'em up ? Bless your soul, we didn't 
even lower a boat ! A Mother Cary's chicken could 



JACK'S SUPERSTITION 22 5 

hardly live in such a sea. No ; the poor fellows went to 
Davy Jones ! Our admiral began to look blue, but he was 
just gettin' the little end of it. The frigate was bound to 
the slave-coast to look out for slavers. We had hardly 
got out of this lee-shore scrape when the crew was com- 
pletely upset, all thought of duty gone on liberty. It 
seems when hammocks was piped down and the watch be- 
low turned in, the dead men's hammocks was swung to 
their number-hooks on the berth-deck every night, but 
they wasn't unlashed. The master-at-arms swore the 
hammocks was in the nettings ; but when you come to look 
they weren't ; only in the morning back in the nettings 
you'd find 'em. The d — 1 knows how ! 

" We knew something was coming. Sure enough, one 
dark, squally night (we had nasty weather all the way to 
the coast) the cat-head lookout sung out ' Breakers ahead,' 
' Hard down your helm ; ' and quicker than you could get 
your grog stopped the frigate struck. You ought to see 
the crew look at the admiral as he crawled on deck with his 
eyes started and hair standing on end. The frigate had 
run foul of a whale asleep on the water. It was all we 
could do to keep her free with the pumps till we made the 
French coast for a dock. When we got to port the devil 
was to pay. The cholera was raging, and the officers and 
crew was taken down, and died like rats in a fumigated 
ship. Our old admiral ' kicked the bucket ' among the 
first. There we thought the matter ended ; and so it did, 
so far as the frigate went. But there was one of our 
ships here going home ; so they put the old admiral up in 
a puncheon of rum, and shipped him home to Plymouth ; 
and, don't you know, when they got him to Plymouth there 
was very little of him left, for the men had tapped him 
and drawn off the rum, leaving very little admiral to bury. 
So you see the bad luck payed out like a maintop-bowl- 
ing ; no end to it. No, messmates ! Catch me sailing 



226 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

on Friday! Shiver my timbers if you do! I'd jump 
overboard and swim ashore first." — "Say, messmate, 
was there anything out of the way in the taste of that 
rum ? " — " Don't know much about that. Wa'n't invited 
to sample it. Was on the royal yard when this grog was 
'served out.' But you look out, and don't sail on a Fri- 
day ! " 

Our glee-club is in the full tide of song ; and even 
Semmes unbends from his dignity, and, with his camp-stool 
on the bridge and manila lit, smokes away the hours, and 
listens to the plantation songs interspersed with the more 
sentimental, and winding up with " Dixie " and " Bonny 
Blue Flag" just before the sound of eight bells. We 
have secured, in our recent batch of recruits, a fiddler, 
and the scratch of the violin is heard again ; and Jack 
has mastered some new steps and flings, picked up from 
the dear girls at Cape Town and Singapore. Never such 
a run before on the Alabama. The new pieces are fresh 
on this stage, for we have theatricals as well ; and weather 
now permitting, the forecastle is packed from bridge to 
hawse-holes, and the merry laugh goes round. How 
often ignorance is bliss ! This grand breeze is wafting 
the Alabama to her fate, and many of the gallant light- 
hearted fellows will never see dear home again. But do 
not reveal the future to them, or stop the joyous pastime. 
We met on this passage a curious phenomenon. I was 
keeping the first watch one night, and noticed about half- 
past eight an appearance of milky whiteness in the sea 
ahead, as though in shoal water, accompanied by a bril- 
liant phosphorescence. Although the chart indicated no 
shoal or land within hundreds of miles of us, still vol- 
canic upheavals can occur in a day. The sight was so 
startling and sudden as to cause us to stand by for a 
grate on the rocks. The captain was called immediately, 
and the ship hove-to. Sounding with the deep-sea lead 



MAN OVERBOARD! 227 

and getting no bottom at a great depth, our fears were 
allayed, and we filled away. A bucket of the water drawn 
showed innumerable bright particles sparkling and moving 
through ; it but being kept for examination by daylight, it 
presented no unusual appearance. There was an unnat- 
ural light over the sea as far as the eye could reach, and 
to tell the truth it thoroughly alarmed every one. We 
thought the Alabama was to lay her bones in the Indian 
Ocean. We were several hours passing through it, show- 
ing it to be at least twenty-five or thirty miles in extent. 
The cause of this remarkable display of marine fireworks 
we could not determine, and even Semmes's experience 
was for once at fault. 1 

We are in the latter part of January experiencing va- 
riable winds, and expect soon to be in the "doldrums " of 
the equator. The quiet of the ship is suddenly disturbed 
by an incident which evokes another instance of the signal 
courage and address of the man Mars. We are close- 
hauled on a wind, under sail alone, the screw being, as 
usual, triced up. The wind is blowing a good " topgallant 
breeze," with a clear sky, and rather a frisky sea. One 
of the crew who had been on the sick-list for a long 
time, now convalescent, was ordered by the surgeon to 
be carried on deck for sun and fresh air. While lying 
on the topgallant-forecastle, by some means not posi- 
tively known, the man went overboard to leeward. At 
once the cry was given, " Man overboard ! " Wilson, 
the officer of the deck, gave the order, " Hard down 
your helm ! Cut away the life-buoy ! Man the weather- 
braces ! Light up the head-sheets ! Brace aback ! 
Lower away the lee life-boat ! The vessel was at a 
standstill in a twinkling, with the struggling invalid some 
distance astern, battling with feeble strength for life. 

1 A similar phenomenon sometimes occurs in the Gulf of Mexico. It is prob- 
ably of rare occurrence. 



228 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Mars took in the situation instantly. Seizing a grating, 
he rushed to the lee gangway, and throwing it overboard 
ahead of him, mounted the rail. All this was done, and he 
was in the water swimming with the grating ahead, before 
the vessel had been hove-to. 

Meanwhile the first lieutenant reached the deck, and 
observing the intent of Mars, ordered him not to go to 
the rescue of his comrade in such rough water ; the boat 
could pick the man up, and one of the crew was enough 
to lose if any. But his order was not heeded ; humanity 
had asserted itself, and all thought of the gravity of dis- 
obedience of orders was thrown by Mars to the winds. 
Only replying, " Keep cool, Mr. Kell, I will save the poor 
fellow," he swam rapidly to the now nearly exhausted 
sailor. He reached him, and shoving the grating under 
him, awaited the approach of the life-boat, which was not 
long in taking them both in, the invalid being more dead 
than alive. A wild yell broke from the throats of the 
gallant tars. The yards were braced up, the head-sheets 
hauled aft, boat hoisted to the davits and secured, and the 
vessel was once more on her course. 

As soon as order was restored, Semmes had officers and 
crew mustered on the quarter-deck, and, mounting the 
horse-block, in a speech of ten minutes delivered a flat- 
tering tribute to the superb gallantry of the man. He 
called upon the rest of the officers and crew to endeavor 
to emulate his example in all hours of danger and trial. 
The speech was an indorsement any man might be proud 
to receive from his commander. At the conclusion of the 
remarks, the order was given the boatswain and mates to 
pipe down. As the crew were strolling forward, Mars, 
with a hitch of the trousers so common with Jack tars, 
remarked, "The captain has made a bloody fuss over 
nothing." During the entire time occupied by Semmes 
in addressing officers and crew, Mars stood hat in hand, 



MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL 22Q 

head down, and blushing like a schoolgirl at the well- 
earned compliments showered upon him. Michael Mars 
was an Irishman, and had served time in the British navy. 
It must be confessed that, if his courage seemed at times 
foolhardy, it was justified by an unusual adroitness in 
handling himself. 

We are so evidently heading up now for the Mozam- 
bique Channel, that we know without telling that Cape 
Town is to be revisited, and that we shall have a chance 
to delight the ears of our acquaintances there presently 
with the story of our adventures in the Indian Ocean 
and the China Sea. Also, maybe, to explain to courteous 
Gov. Wodehouse how we happened to run away with 
sundry British subjects, and to make the earliest possible 
restitution of the same ; meantime, humbly praying his 
excellency to give us his potent aid toward the recovery 
of some of our own lads, which our hasty departure in 
stress of weather compelled us to leave behind. We also 
desire to tender our respects to Capt. Baldwin of the Van- 
derbilt, should he still be burning coals around the Cape, 
and to obtain some news of what has been going on at 
home. We have heard nothing for months. Yet this 
latter desire is not unmingled with dread. It is becom- 
ing only too plain to us that the resources of our foes are 
practically boundless, and that we are to be left unaided to 
cope with them. At last advices, Lee was still breasting 
the avalanche with his " Stonewall " brigade. But how 
long could such a contest last with seaports sealed, homes 
devastated, and the enemy, with an immensely greater popu- 
lation, abundant means, and the whole earth to draw from, 
pressing upon us from every side ? But it was not ours to 
utter, even to each other, the doubts we felt. We kept 
them in our hearts, and talked cheerfully. 

We entered the Mozambique Channel, and stood for the 
island of Comoro on the African coast. As soon as it was 



23O TWO YEARS OAT THE ALABAMA 

sighted, we clewed up all sail, and put the ship under 
steam. Being near now to Johnny Bull's coal-pile, we feel 
we can afford this luxury ; and as we have run out of the 
trade-winds into doldrums — an alternation of calms and 
light, shifty airs, that leave us too much at the mercy of 
the currents — we could hardly make the port we are 
bound for without it. Johanna, the chief harbor of the 
group to which Comoro belongs, is our destination. No 
pilot is required here, as the shore is bold and rocky, with 
deep water to the very base of the cliffs. We run in, and 
anchor right off the town. These islands, strange to 
say, are not claimed by either "John Bull" or "Johnny 
Crapaud." It may be a case of crouching each on a side 
of the carcass, and awaiting developments. Both have a 
craze for the acquisition of good building-sites, and for 
settling families on them. The Comoro group rises per- 
pendicularly out of the sea, and is of volcanic origin. The 
present ruler is an Arab, and self-styled " Sultan Abdal- 
lah," which cognomen is about as frequently found in the 
vocabulary of Mohammedan proper names as Smith in 
Christian lands. And we should judge the " sultan " to 
be as commonplace an individual as our ubiquitous Smith 
afore-named. Upon sending an officer on shore to an- 
nounce our arrival, and desire to confer with him upon 
sundry subjects, he sent off to the ship his grand cock- 
alorum or vizier, with the request that we excuse him, as 
he w;as superintending the erection of a sugar-mill; but 
his representative would attend to our wants, and we were 
quite welcome to the comforts and hospitality of the port. 
Adding, with an eye to business, that his factotuui would 
be pleased to bargain with us for fresh provisions, etc. 
Shade of an emperor ; and what a fall is here, my 
countrymen ! But why should fellows roaming the 
ocean for the purpose of aiding in establishing, if possible, 
another republic, and disseminating democratic ideas and 



COMORO 23 1 

institutions, criticise our brother sultan found engaged in 
the laudable handling of his saw and jack-plane ? Surely 
a more admirable ambition and useful occupation this 
than sitting around on a throne and ordering bowstrings 
for unlucky subjects. So we wish his august majesty suc- 
cess in his humble and useful occupation, and trust he 
may turn out a first-class article of sugar. No doubt he 
shows his plain common-sense in plodding on with his 
work, rather than removing the sweat of toil visiting the 
Alabama, and swapping senseless compliments not meant 
and not swallowed. Beyond a doubt he is proving a good 
practical ruler at present, and, with his sensible methods, 
bids fair to become a better. 

Our paymaster, Gait, has no difficulty in arranging with 
the prime minister for a supply of meats, vegetables, and 
fruits ; and we will do the colored gentleman the justice to 
say that his prices were moderate, and supplies excellent. 
If he is as satisfactory an adviser to his sultan as caterer 
to us, he will long hold his cabinet seat. " May he live long 
and prosper ! " The inhabitants here are a mixed race of 
Hindus, Africans, and Arabs, but all Mohammedans in 
faith. They are cordial, polite, and hospitable, and quite 
intelligent and well-posted in the history of the Occident. 
Their high priests and teachers are especially well in- 
formed. Many American whale-ships, as also English 
men-of-war and merchant-vessels, stop here for rest and 
refreshment. The islands are naturally healthy, the tem- 
perature sultry in the valleys, but moderate as you ascend. 
English is spoken by very many of the people, intercourse 
with the outside world being pretty constant. The Ala- 
bama was well known to them by report, and they told us 
our visit had been looked for months before. American 
shipping, until recently, was almost always to be found in 
the harbor. We had evidently cut into the trade of these 
islanders considerably by our former presence in their 
neighborhood. 



232 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

Our surgeon, Llewellyn, is constantly called upon dur- 
ing our stay, not only for attendance, but medicines ; and 
the sick-bay is daily the rendezvous of all classes of the 
people, seeking advice and physic. We were informed 
that disease had been introduced into the islands by the 
American whaling-fleet, and its spread had been general. 
At the time of our visit it could be designated a national 
calamity. 

The walk through the town we find quite interesting, 
the booths and bazaars attractive in Eastern bric-a-brac gen- 
erally, Turkish pipes, tobacco, etc. A party of us from 
the wardroom entered a cafe for the purpose of enjoying a 
cup of Mocha coffee, in the making of which these Moham- 
medans excel ; it being their hourly beverage, taking the 
place of spirits or wines, which their religion prohibits. 
We found the proprietor on his knees at his devotions ; and 
waiting some time for him to arise, we were observed by 
outsiders, and advised to go farther for the refreshment, 
as our friend had just commenced his prayers, and would 
probably be some considerable time engaged. We learned 
that it is not uncommon for them to spend several hours 
at a time in prayer. Altogether, we can but admit them a 
thoroughly sincere people in their religion and practices, 
and in the total abstinence feature they certainly pres- 
ent us an object-lesson. We had not the pleasure of 
seeing the sultan during our week's stay ; not that his 
august presence was denied us through the sacredness 
of his person, but rather that his occupation suggested 
a mechanic's apron, and the accompaniment of dirt and 
grease. 

Several of us ascended the precipitous side of the moun- 
tain, following the well-worn path winding to the summit. 
The view from the elevation is varied and extremely beau- 
tiful, embracing ocean and landscape, the latter a paradise 
of tropical verdure. Birds of the parrot species abound, 



IN THE HARBOR OF COMORO 233 

chiefly of the gray variety ; and wild peacocK are also 
plentiful. Following the path, a mountain stream of clear 
cold water paralleling it, about half-way up the mountain 
we find a cascade, falling over the rocks about twenty 
feet, forming a deep pool several yards in diameter. The 
suggestion of a bath was natural, the temperature of the 
water being about right. We have the evidence before us 
that we are not the first Europeans to enjoy the luxury 
of this mountain tub ; for on the rocks we read " H. B. M. S. 
Medusa, Jan. 12, 1837," in large letters in white paint, 
artistically lettered, showing it to have been most probably 
the handiwork of the frigate's painter. It seemed to 
guarantee the safety of the pool ; and so we found it, swim- 
ming up under the cascade to be buried under, and coming 
to the surface some distance below. We enjoyed the 
sport for some time. We should have painted the name 
of our ship on the rocks, as at first agreed among our 
party, but difficulties intervened to prevent. It would 
have been an interesting landmark now, had we done so. 

Our crew do not take advantage of the liberty-permit 
here to any great extent, and would not at all but for the 
fine coast-bathing. No rum to be had here, and no dance- 
house ; nothing but the bazaars and cafes to attract ; and, 
though Jack is fond of a cup of fragrant coffee, that 
is soon settled. Our natives are anxious to witness a 
bonfire, and the selfish fellows actually hope that an 
" unfortunate " will come along. So here is some more 
human nature of the baser sort, willing and anxious to see 
the fellow going down the hill receive an additional kick. 
We find an English whaling-vessel here, vara avis any- 
where, Americans and Portuguese almost monopolizing 
this trade. Whales are plenty off the Madagascar coast in 
the season ; and we are in hopes of a prize appearing off 
the harbor, but are doomed to disappointment. 

We take in a plentiful stock of fresh provisions, vegeta- 



234 Tlv YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

bles, and fruit, including a number of the double-hump 
cattle of this region — a supply for many days, and an 
attraction to our ship's butcher, whose hand is getting 
out in the line of his trade. We must have proved the 
best customer to the sultan in many a day. The old fel- 
low evidently has an eye to business ; for our paymaster 
swaps our sovereigns for the supplies all the time, no 
presents greeting our view, and no ceremonies requiring 
to be provided for. 

We weigh anchor, and stand to the southward, bound 
now to Cape Town. The weather is delightful in tem- 
perature, but variable as to style, squally, with little or 
no wind, torrents of rain, and tremendous electrical dis- 
charges. An old quartermaster who had visited these 
parts years ago in an English man-of-war, had warned me 
previously what to expect in this neighborhood, and I rec- 
ollected something of my own experience on a return voy- 
age from Japan some years before. " Horsburg's sailing- 
directions " (undoubted authority) makes mention of the 
marked character of the squalls of this locality. We 
caught some of it off the south end of Madagascar. It 
was in the first watch of the night, about half-past eight. 
The sky had been promising for some time a rain-squall, 
and it did not tarry long once the lightning lit up the 
horizon. The quartermaster sidling up to me remarked, 
"Well, sir, we are going to have it." The flashes ap- 
proached very rapidly, accompanied by torrents of rain, 
such as must have visited old man Noah, but with little 
wind. The lightning ran down the three conductors to 
the masts in constant streams, entering the water with a 
hissing sound, and jumping from gun to gun, and even to 
the engine below. The crash was like the explosion of, a 
heavy mine blast, or battery of artillery ; and between the 
flashes the night was as black as Erebus. The ship had 
been ordered under low sail as a precautionary measure. 



ELECTRIC SQUALLS 235 

But the heavy dark clouds evolved no breeze. Nearly 
blinded by the flashings, there was nothing to do but re- 
cline on the horse-block, and take the deluge of rain with 
mouth shut to keep from being drowned. The captain, 
putting his head out of the companion hatchway, and 
looking around for a few moments, remarked, " Well, sir, 
you do not seem to be getting any wind out of it, though, 
on the whole, I do not envy you your watch ; " and retired 
to his law-books again. 

As a flash of lightning lit up the deck, Midshipman 
Maffitt of the watch was noted close beside the writer. 
His post was on the forecastle ; and to the query, " What 
can I do for you, Mr. Maffitt ? " " Nothing," is the reply ; 
then for some time we gaze at each other inquiringly, as 
the flashes allow. "Well, sir," he at last said, "I came 
aft because it is so lonesome." The reason was appre- 
ciated fully ; but his place was forward. So with an "I'm 
sorry, sir, and would like to have your company, but it 
wont do ; you had better go forward," we parted. It must 
be confessed I would have preferred to pass the remainder 
of the watch near somebody to divide the scare with my- 
self. No damage resulted to the ship, beyond injury to 
one of the conductors. I have heard it stated that no 
steamer has ever received serious damage from lightning, 
but cannot vouch for the accuracy of the statement. You 
have never, reader, seen lightning at its worst, unless in 
these straits ; and its frolics are of a character to provoke 
dodging, though of course it is of no use, as the danger is 
over ere you have dodged. This remarkable carnival of 
the lightning lasted nearly the whole watch ; and its cessa- 
tion did not anger Wilson, who relieved me at midnight. 

Dolphin are in large schools around us now constantly, 
and the young officers and men have grand sport fishing 
for them with grains and line ; the most attractive bait be- 
ing an artificial fish of pewter, or a white cotton rag. So 



236 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

soon as you skip your hook over the water, a rush for it 
takes place, and you fasten on to a fine fellow from three 
to four feet long. We have been in the company of this 
fish more or less for several months, — ever since leaving 
St. Paul in the South Indian Ocean, — but shall leave 
them now in a few days. An interesting sight on a pleas- 
ant afternoon it is to observe the boys of the ship, as 
also the younger officers, taking exercise in the rigging, 
springing like squirrels up the lower rattlings to the lofty 
tops, and over the futtock-shrouds to the cross-trees, and 
crossing by the fore-and-aft stays to another spar, and so 
on down to the deck again. These young fellows are lithe 
and supple. You would not know them to be the same 
that eighteen months ago, innocently and in good faith, 
mounted to the maintop to pick gooseberries for Semmes's 
dinner ; and again evaded the cat-like watchfulness of 
Steward Bartelli, entering the cabin while the captain is 
engaged in taking a " sight " on deck, to get a pull on the 
"binnacle down-haul ; " the aforesaid rope requiring imme- 
diate hauling taut, and leading to and belaying under the 
captain's bunk. Yet these are the identical boys, no 
longer "green;" and you may be sure would deny the 
soft impeachment, should you be indiscreet enough to hint 
at the aforesaid orders received and seriously obeyed some 
months since. 

It is the first week of March, and we have sounded on 
the Agulhas bank ; the longitude and the dark-green color 
of the water indicating our position. We make a cruise 
off here of two weeks ; but as before results are nil. Nor 
do we find the Vanderbilt, though this may be because 
Evans dorit want to find her. Don't tell him so. He will 
tell you angrily that he don't care a d n for the Van- 
derbilt, and that Baldwin is not looking for us with a very 
powerful telescope. Strange luck that we have never cap- 
tured a vessel off the pitch of the Cape, though it is one 
of the great highways of commerce ! 



JACK'S THEOLOGY 237 

We have made now a six months' cruise from the time 
we left Cape Town ; and though we have only destroyed a 
few vessels during this time, they have been valuable ones, 
and the indirect damage cannot be estimated. It will ever 
remain an unknown quantity. 

It has not been mentioned, I believe, that Jack is some- 
thing of a theologian ; but you will find him no insignifi- 
cant opponent in religious discussions. While he has full 
faith in heaven, he has none in hell, that is, in an eternal 
one. His belief is rather in a half-way house, called " Fid- 
dlers-green," where you pass the lonely time as best you 
can, awaiting a better state, and doing penance in the 
meantime by dancing to very poor music. You cannot 
shake the faith of an old sea-dog in the positive existence 
of the aforesaid territory. Jack has full faith in God's 
mercy, and freely confesses his need of it. The earthly 
types of this abode of shades are found off Cape Horn and 
the Cape of Good Hope, with their rough seas, baffling 
winds, and chill storms. 

We are anxious now for the skipper to give up the futile 
boxing off the stormy cape, and let us to our old friends 
at the town. We shall burn no ships here. They are 
scarcer than hen's teeth ; and the " equinoctial " is at hand 
and daily looked for ; and we prefer to ride it out at anchor, 
even though in the open roadstead we are bound to. 



238 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER XIII 

CAPE TOWN AGAIN ; OLD FRIENDS ; THE NEWSPAPER 
MAN J BAD NEWS J RE-ENTERING THE ATLANTIC ; THE 
ROCKINGHAM; THE TYCOON; OUR LAST BONFIRE J WE 
ARRIVE AT CHERBOURG 

We enter the roadstead of Cape Town, and almost im- 
mediately are riding to the heavy gale with a long range 
of chain-cable. Our ship has been signalled from the look- 
out station ; but, with the exception of the heavy storm- 
boats carrying extra anchors and chains for hire to vessels 
dragging their anchors, we can have no means of commu- 
nication with the shore. One had as well, excepting the 
strict watch to be kept, be at sea ; the swell causing the 
ship to dip her nose under at each dive, and throwing 
the spray clear aft, making wet and uncomfortable decks, 
and confining all hands to close quarters. Our cruiser 
does not at this moment present an appearance answering 
to Kell's notions of ship-shape. Still we receive through 
the storm-boats provisions, newspapers, etc., for all hands ; 
and await the breaking up of the equinoctial. We have 
communicated with the governor, and received permission 
to coal ship, without a reference to the late dodging of 
the neutrality laws ; and our prediction that it would escape 
notice in the darkness is verified. We hear nothing 
further from it. On the next day the gale ceases, and the 
ship once more is crowded with our friends of all stations 
and degrees. 

It was most gratifying to note the genuine pleasure 
manifested by these friends of the Cape Colony in being 



THE NEWSPAPER MAN 239 

allowed once more to grasp us by the hand, and to learn 
how constantly they had watched the advices of us while 
we were in the East. We were the recipients on all hands 
of congratulations on our escape from the perils of archi- 
pelago cruising, and from the cruisers of the enemy. Our 
own Southern people could not have shown more heartfelt 
sympathy. 

Our local reporter of the Cape Town Argus is also on 
deck, and as live a specimen of an impudent and cheeky 
reporter as an English colony could be expected to fur- 
nish. He has you by the buttonhole before you know it ; 
and next will have applied a modicum of his patent glue to 
the seat of your trousers, and fastening you to a camp- 
stool, without a thought of ceremony or apology, proceed 
to pump out the experiences of your life. You may as 
well keep still and banish thoughts of " tiffin," for your 
reporter is neither hungry nor tired ; he may be a little 
thirsty, and if so will gently inform you. But he don't 
know what he wants, and you will have to designate it. 
So open your mental budget. This fellow intends to let 
the Cape Town good folks know to-morrow morning what 
you have been doing since your departure. In return he 
will " paint the town red " in your company if you incline 
that way, and will also leave all the headache with you 
to bring on board ship. He has no personal use for a 
swelled superstructure. 

We have little time at our disposal on this visit, our 
captain seeming in a bit of a hurry ; still, we have a run on 
shore, and see again the delightful vineyards but little re- 
moved from ' the town, and have the pleasure of looking 
upon and sampling the luscious grapes and figs now in 
their full perfection. Steward Bartelli is in his full glory, 
bowing and scraping to gold lace and epaulettes, passing 
in visiting-cards, and, by the way, scrutinizing them with 
the air gf a state master of ceremonies. Our sailor-boys 



24O TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

are not having the " good time " of yore, at least, not as 
yet ; Jack is at present begrimed with coal-dust and other- 
wise uncomfortable. Poor soul ! He is yet ignorant that 
we shall have but three days here ; that our discreet cap- 
tain is purposely keeping this all-important fact safely 
locked in his own bosom. Our fellows are to have no lib- 
erty again from the Alabama. Jack toils hard in blissful 
ignorance that he will never put in an appearance at the 
snug little home ycleped "The song of the Siren," and 
that black-eyed Susan will wait in vain the visit re- 
quested in a message through Tom Kedge-Anchor, the 
bumboatman. No, my boys ! And in the next port you 
are to face an altogether different music. No more wind- 
ing through the mazes of the dance, but a square stand-up 
fight ! A duel to the death, that will lay many a one of 
you low. 

I have omitted to mention that we steamed into port 
here side and side with the American steamer Kuang Tung 
(Canton) from New York, bound to China, and stopping 
here, like ourselves, for coal. She is a gunboat, intended 
for the Teiping rebels, and has narrowly escaped capture, 
being just within marine league as we make her out. 
Rather a coincidence — our coming so near duplicating 
the capture of the Sea Bride off this harbor a few months 
since. The skipper of the Kuang Tung may consider 
himself a lucky fellow, and the circumstances a good omen 
of future success in the Flowery Kingdom, upsetting the 
Imperial government. On the subject of the Sea Bride 
we may mention that our strong box was liberally filled 
with sovereigns at this visit, the proceeds of the wool 
sale in England, part cargo of the Tuscaloosa, trans- 
ferred at Angra Pequefia some months since. The Ala- 
bama is now a wealthy as well as a bold buccaneer. 

We have late newspapers from all parts of the world, 
and read of the utter demoralization of American com- 



DISCOURAGING NEWS 24 1 

merce. Indeed, in this connection, our eyes had beheld 
the desolation of Israel in Egypt. During our absence 
in the East, the Tuscaloosa, our tender, has returned 
to Cape Town for repairs, having experienced heavy 
weather off the Brazilian coast, and has been seized by 
order of the English home government as unlawfully fitted 
out. The English government has no more right to 
inquire into her antecedents than into the antecedents 
of the Alabama herself, indeed, less authority. It was 
so plain a case, as argued by Semmes in a correspond- 
ence with Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker, that the Tus- 
caloosa was released subsequently. She was, however, 
of no use to us further ; Low, her commander, with Sin- 
clair, his first officer, and the crew, having taken passage 
on a mail-steamer for England, after having failed to 
convince the home or local governments of the illegality 
of the seizure. The Tuscaloosa was finally turned over 
to her original owners at the close of the war. Still, 
our point was carried with flying colors, the English 
interpreters of international law finding in Semmes a 
worthier opponent in legal lore than in Low. John 
Bull is a square fellow — does not hesitate to act quickly 
and firmly when he thinks himself right, and is equally 
candid and fair in acknowledging his error when proven 
to be wrong. " May he live long and prosper," to spread 
liberty and enlightenment over the face of the globe ! 

We detect in the news received through the late news- 
papers from the seat of war, that our country is in the 
last throes of dissolution, her sacrifices and sufferings 
all for naught. Little left but to gaze on the wreck, 
and moisten the turf of the dead heroes with bitter but 
unavailing tears. We feel as though the destruction of 
life and property should cease at once, as now a mere 
wantonness, or at least for the sake of the widow and 
fatherless. We, situated as we are so far from the 



242 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

clash and excitement, are better able to judge of the 
situation than those who live in it. We are compara- 
tively cool, and can take in the panorama of passing 
events, not blinded by the desperation of a forlorn hope. 
The good folk of Cape Town and vicinity hold a place 
in their hearts for us, and as the time approaches to speak 
the good-by we shrink from the word. The phantom 
fails to unveil the future, or point to the Alabama where 
her home now is to be or what her destiny. 

"The harbor's past, the breezes blow, 
'Tis long, ere we come back, I know." 

Coals on board, anchor weighed, we are off for the North 
Atlantic. It is now the latter part of March. We first 
stand for the historic island of St. Helena, in the regular 
track of vessels bound to England or United States. We 
shall not meet sails on this ocean path, all will be going 
our way. Our only hope is in their overhauling us, and 
we carry short canvas in consequence. But the cruise, or 
rather voyage, to St. Helena is void of incident and excite- 
ment. Nothing to break the monotony but ship duties ; 
and an air of impatience and unrest pervades us fore and 
aft. We know too well the last act of the drama is being 
played, and that a painful uncertainty broods over our future. 

We sight St. Helena, and linger a few days in the vicin- 
ity in hopes of a capture from the vast fleet rushing by us 
for home and a market, but are unsuccessful. Europe is 
doing the carrying-trade of the world by sea. One month 
from the Cape we have almost forgotten our calling. Not 
a prize burned, and standing along in the busy highway 
of commerce with plenty of company. 

It is the 2 2d of April, 1864, in the track now of ves- 
sels from the Pacific. The lookout reports a sail, Amer- 
ican rig, and standing our way. We make sail after her, 
and soon have our expectations raised to the highest 



BURNING OUR LAST SHIP 243 

pitch of hope, by observing her "keeping off," and rigging 
out her studding-sails and light kites. It is night when 
we make the sail ; but she has made us out, and evidently 
is aware we are a man-of-war steamer. She is a dull 
sailer ; but as a stern chase is always a long one, it is an 
all-night job, and daylight before we have her under our 
rifle-gun. We had really not cared to come up with her 
before day, it being more convenient to board and examine 
then. A blank cartridge is all sufficient, and she luffs to 
the breeze, maintopsail aback. The weather is light and 
handy for the work. She is the American ship Rock- 
ingham from Callao, bound for Cork and orders, guano 
loaded. She was condemned by our prize-court of one 
member, and officers and crew being removed, and such 
articles of provisions as needed, we made a target of 
the prize. The breeze was light and sea smooth, and at 
point blank and elevated range the gun-divisions amused 
themselves blithely. Considerable damage was done the 
target in the hull, the cabin particularly being torn up and 
and knocked into splinters. The practice over, the prize 
was consigned to the torch and we filled away. It is 
curious to compare the fine execution in this target-prac- 
tice and the woful failure in the Kearsarge engagement 
which closely followed it. 

We are approaching the track of vessels, both outward 
and homeward bound, and have passed a week without a 
hint of an enemy's vessel, though neutrals, as usual, pass 
constantly. The weather is delightful ; and as the inter- 
dict of secrecy has for the first time in our cruise been 
removed, and all hands are cognizant of our destination, 
the- crew are in the highest state of pleasurable ex- 
citement — never so willing and accommodating. Ring 
through the trumpet an order, and Jack jumps with alac- 
rity. " Work ship " incessantly the whole watch, you 
hear no growl from him. He knows the ship is bound 



244 TW0 YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

HOME; and in a few weeks mother, wife, and sweetheart 
will be dandling on his knee, and the tale of his adven- 
tures on the boat of his choice and under the flag of his 
adoption will be "always telling, never told." 

We are now approaching the equator once more ; and 
just a week since our last capture we make a sail stand- 
ing towards us on opposite tack, the wind light and sea 
smooth. It is a capture accompanied with no excite- 
ment or incident, a reflection of the state of our feelings. 
We feel like the surroundings — listless, our toils object- 
less. The struggle over, the contest settled, of what avail 
the destruction of this gallant ship ? She approaches 
slowly ; we have only to heave-to, hoist our colors to the 
peak, and order her, per trumpet, to heave-to. She flut- 
ters up to the light air like a frightened dove ; and upon 
being boarded, proves the clipper-ship Tycoon, from New 
York to San Francisco, with a large and valuable assorted 
cargo. She has no claim of neutral cargo, and is con- 
demned. Removing a goodly portion of her wares needed 
by us, officers, crew, and passengers are transferred, and 
the ship consigned to the torch — the last bonfire we are 
ever to witness on the ocean, and the last act of retali- 
ation on the part of the Alabama for the invasion of the 
South. 

We cross the equatorial line in the usual style, an ac- 
companiment of shifting light airs and calms, with the 
welcome addition of torrents of rain almost hourly in 
visitation. We are off the Brazilian coast now, and are 
thinking of the Florida and Georgia left by us about one 
year ago, and hoping to fall in with them once more. 
How different the state of our feelings now than at the 
time we parted from them ! Our hopes and aspirations 
at that time were at high-water mark, and our pride in our 
ship at its height. Then all was encouraging at home 
with the army, and we were actually anxious that an 



ARRIVAL AT CHERBOURG 245 

enemy's cruiser should look in on our squadron of the 
Brazil station, and be gobbled up. 

We get papers from neutrals constantly, but not much 
news to cheer us, quite the contrary. It is the latter part 
of May, and for the next month there is literally nothing 
to record. We are only boarding neutrals all the while. 
Nothing but blue sky above, the blue dreary waste of 
waters below, and the Alabama booming along to reach 
her final destiny. On the 10th of June, 1864, we make 
the land at the entrance of the English Channel. We 
take a pilot, and the next day enter the harbor of Cher- 
bourg, France, and call our cruise ended. 



246 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER XIV 

in the harbor of cherbourg j french hospitality j 
arrival of the kearsarge ; the challenge ; scru- 
pulous neutrality j preparations for the fight j 
mr. Lancaster's yacht ; commander semmes's pre- 
vision 

We have cruised from the day of commission, Aug. 24, 
1862, to June 11, 1864, and during this time have visited 
two-thirds of the globe, experiencing all vicissitudes of 
climate and hardships attending constant cruising. We 
have had from first to last two hundred and thirteen 
officers and men on our pay-roll, and have lost not one by 
disease, and but one by accidental death. We have trans- 
ferred of the original crew twelve men (to the Tusca- 
loosa), and go into the last fight with fifty-nine of the 
, original crew, having only fourteen who swore allegiance 1 / 
to the young Republic, on Aug. 24, 1862, absent on the 
day of trial. Of these few absentees, some were con- 
demned by medical survey and sent home to England 
to be cared for, some were victims to the wiles of our 
enemies, and two more dismissed the service by court- 
martial. A record to be proud of, but only such a one 
as history commonly attaches to the British sailor. 

Immediately after arrival, an officer was sent with a 
communication to the port admiral, asking permission to 
land our prisoners of the Rockingham and Tycoon, our 
last two captures, which was promptly granted. Permis- 
sion was also asked for docking privileges at the only 
available yard which belonged to the government. Some 



THE CHALLENGE 247 

delay was experienced before the answer to this request 
was given ; the Emperor, whose permission must first be 
obtained, being absent from Paris at the watering-place of 
Biarritz. Pending the matter, several days elapsed. In 
the meantime, the captain of the Kearsarge, hearing of 
our arrival, steamed from Flushing, and entered the har- 
bor on the 14th, just three days after we did. Without 
anchoring, he sent a boat on shore ; .and then steamed 
to sea again just outside the breakwater. It seems the 
principal object of the visit was to ask permission to 
receive on board the Kearsarge prisoners recently landed 
by ourselves. This would seem, indeed, the sole object 
of the visit ; for it was generally understood, both among 
the officers of the French squadron and the citizens of 
Cherbourg, and it was noised abroad by the newspaper 
press, that the Alabama was going in dock for thorough 
repairs. It was also generally known that it had been 
decided to give both the officers and men of the Alabama 
several months' leave of absence. Winslow could hardly 
have contemplated cutting us out from under the Em- 
peror's wing as the Florida was cut out at Bahia ; he 
could not have contemplated waiting outside the harbor 
for us until our repairs were made ; whether he knew 
Semmes so well as to be assured of a challenge if he put 
in an appearance has never transpired. The challenge 
alone is a matter of history. 

Semmes lost no time, however, after the appearance of 
the Kearsarge in obtaining from Commodore Samuel Bar- 
ron, the superior officer in charge of naval matters abroad, 
permission to offer her battle. Then through the United 
States consul he forwarded to Captain Winslow a commu- 
nication to the effect that if he would wait until he could 
get his coal aboard he would go out and fight him. I 
have often been asked why Semmes should decide to fight 
in his disabled condition a ship so much his superior as to 



248 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

number of crew, armament, and speed ; with the full knowl- 
edge, also, that the midship section of the Kearsarge was 
protected by bights of chain cables hung over her sides. 
That is manifestly a question I cannot undertake to an- 
swer. But apart from the unquestioned gallantry of the 
man, the insinuations he had been forced to listen to re- 
garding his avoidance of armed ships of his foe, and the 
construction of insult which might be placed on the move- 
ments of the Kearsarge, he knew he had as gallant and 
perfectly trained a band supporting him as commander 
ever had the good fortune to lead. He had two guns 
capable of quickly sinking any wooden gunboat of the 
period. He had no suspicion that his powder was dam- 
aged, 1 and had no reason to think the Kearsarge would 
avoid, or even that she could avoid, his coming to close 
quarters. Had the one-hundred pound percussion shell, 
lodged so early in the action in the stern of the Kearsarge, 
exploded, who doubts that it must have proved her death- 
blow? 

Winslow was not allowed to take off the paroled pris- 
oners. But the action of the French authorities was no 
more peculiar toward Winslow than toward us. When it 
became known that Semmes had resolved to give battle, 
several Confederate officers then in France were eager to 
participate. Midshipman William H. Sinclair, now acting 
lieutenant (detached, it will be remembered, to the Tusca- 

1 When the target practice on the Rockingham took place two months previously, 
there was no suspicion of deterioration in our powder. But the condition of it at 
the time of the action with the Kearsarge does not admit of doubt. It was observed 
by the officers of the French fleet that our powder smoke showed dark, while that of 
the Kearsarge was clear and white. The same thing was also noted by the captain 
and by the owner of the Deerhound. Lieutenant Wilson's later observations when 
a prisoner on the Kearsarge, the writer's testimony, and that of many deeply inter- 
ested and disappointed witnesses on our decks during the progress of the action, 
may be said to prove the fact. Wilson reported the Kearsarge as showing wounds 
enough in the wake of her engine to sink any vessel if punctuation had been ob- 
tained ; and he firmly believed that damaged powder lost us the fight. A section of 
the original Kearsarge with the shell imbedded in it is now preserved at Washington. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE FIGHT 249 

loosa), had come to Cherbourg to meet us. He was on 
leave of absence, domiciled at Paris, and hnxl been awaiting 
our arrival to rejoin us. But he was not allowed by the 
French admiral, acting for his government, to participate 
in the fight. It was a grievous disappointment to this 
young and dashing officer. Among others similarly re- 
strained should be mentioned Lieut. John Grimball and 
William C. Whittle, who both served later on the Shenan- 
doah. We may well doubt the justice of this ruling. 
These gentlemen were regular commissioned officers of 
the Confederate States navy, and could hardly be objected 
to as recruits obtained on neutral territory. We were in 
no position to cross swords with France on the matter, 
however ; and, besides, we had all the officers we really 
needed. No objection was made to the visit of Commander 
George Terry Sinclair, a Confederate naval agent abroad, 
who came on board and conferred with Semmes as to the 
plan of action, and regarding the comparative merits of. 
shot and shell in particular cases. Sinclair was an ord- 
nance officer of acknowledged ability. Then, our two 
master's mates, Baron Maximilian Von Meulnier and Julius 
Schroeder, were able to escape the ruling. They had 
started home on leave, and had got as far as Paris, when, 
learning that the fight was to come off, they returned at 
once, and were permitted by the authorities to come on 
board. They did most gallant and effective service in the 
action. The reason of the decision in their case I have 
never learned. 

It being a settled thing that the fight is to take place, 
preparations are made for it accordingly. Boatswain 
Mecaskey has his gang busy stoppering standing rig- 
ging, sending down light spars, and disposing of all top- 
hamper. Gunner Cuddy is overhauling the battery, and 
arranging the shot and shell rooms for rapid serving of 
guns, and coals are ordered for our bunkers. We had 



250 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

settled down to the presumption that rest had at last 
been reached. But no rest now for the weary. Kell, who 
doubtless had looked upon his arduous duties as virtually- 
closed, was a busier man than ever, and with perhaps the 
gravest responsibility ever thrust upon his shoulders. He 
will have no pleasant run up to Paris, as arranged, and 
maybe never. We are to enter the arena on Sunday, 
the nineteenth. Our officers, other than the special ones 
engaged in the preparation of the ship for action, are de- 
termined to make the most of the days and hours at their 
disposal with shipmates and brother officers arrived from 
Paris. A round of pleasures is inaugurated, and the cafes 
patronized with an enthusiasm only known to the habitu- 
ally hungry. We had been on the eternal " salt-horse " 
for nearly three months, and, as Joe Wilson put it, needed 
to be fattened for the slaughter. 

We were thrown in a great measure on our own wits 
and resources for recreation. The French officials were 
studiously polite, but distant and reserved ; doubtless 
the reflection of the attitude of the government, and on 
the line of instructions. However, the port admiral man- 
ifested a fellow-feeling and interest in the lone, expatriated 
exponent of the Confederacy, by informing Semmes, a day 
or so before the fight, that an officer detailed to visit the 
Kearsarge in the offing had reported the fact of the chain- 
armor arranged on the ship, and strongly advised Semmes 
not to engage her, for that nothing but unlooked-for good 
luck could throw the scales our way. Considerate ; but 
Semmes evidently only saw the enemy, and had deter- 
mined to chance the uncertainties of warfare, hoping to 
throw the lucky dice. The news that the Alabama is to 
fight on Sunday, the 19th of June, 1864, is now the com- 
mon property of Europe, indeed of all lands, the infor- 
mation being wired to every available point ; and the to-be- 
lookers-on are concentrating at Cherbourg from all points 



OVERWHELMED WITH DUTIES 25 I 

of the Continent, particularly from Paris. The duel to 
the death between these representatives of the two strug- 
gling powers will perhaps be witnessed by as vast a con- 
course of people as ever assembled to view a similar scene, 
not excepting the famous Hampton Roads battle between 
the Merrimac (Virginia) and the Federal fleet. 

The hotels and every other available lodging are en- 
gaged, and still they come. The yacht Deerhound of the 
Royal Yacht Squadron, E. P. Jones captain, and John Lan- 
caster owner, had anchored in the harbor in the meantime. 
She had made the port to take on board Mr. Lancaster 
and his family, who had left the yacht elsewhere, and 
were expected on the eighteenth. Capt. Jones and party 
asked permission to come on board us ; but, for the first 
time in our cruise, we had reluctantly to refuse, being 
overwhelmed with duties and coaling ship for the fight. 
Little did we imagine at the time that these brave fellows 
we were treating with scant courtesy were to be the means 
of saving the lives of so many of our officers and crew. 
In fact, during our stay, our ship, from the nature of the 
case, had but little intercourse with the shipping of the 
harbor. 

Mr. Lancaster, wife, and four children, with their niece 
and nurse, arrived on the evening of the eighteenth, and 
went on board the yacht. Our first meeting with them 
was after the engagement. We may state that Providence 
at this stage of the tragedy provided for the ill-starred Ala- 
bama. On the morning of the fight a consultation was 
held on board the yacht as to whether they should go out 
and witness the fight ; and the "vote" would have been 
even, but that the youngest child, Catherine Lancaster, 
nine years of age, held the balance of power and voted 
"ay." Thus was this little child the instrument of sav- 
ing many lives. A pleasant retrospect to her in after 
years no doubt. 



252 TWO YEARS OAT THE ALABAMA 

Our wardroom in the meantime is the centre of con- 
siderable fun and frolic in spite of the grim work ahead. 
Semmes has sent a bearer of verbal despatches in the 
person of our worthy captain's secretary, to say the trea- 
sure-chest is to be sent on shore ; and like a wise and 
prudent guide and counsellor, advises us to place in it any 
valuables possessed, and also that such of us as are fortu- 
nate enough to own any property should make our wills. 
Joe Wilson says this latter gratuitous advice is well calcu- 
lated to increase our appetites, and of little use to him, as 
all he has of value is his guitar, and that won't go in the 
iron safe, and besides he wants it to keep his spirits up. 
Howell jumps to an idea, and wants to borrow it at once 
as a bracer. Indeed, there is many a joke passing around 
the mess-table, all having direct reference to the present 
state of the nerves, and banter is the order of the meal 
hours. Poor little Dave, our colored wardroom boy (re- 
ferred to before in these pages), is jokingly catechised 
as to the state of his courage. The little fellow seems 
perfectly contented, evidently having every confidence in 
the ability of those he is serving to bring him through 
all right, and shows his ivories at each banter. Faithful 
Dave ! Your goal is about reached. " Well done, good 
and faithful servant." Like Llewellyn, Steward Bartelli, 
and some others, poor little Dave could have saved his 
life by the mere mention that he was unable to swim. y 
Howell could not swim; and it being generally known, 
Semmes ordered him to take an oar in the boat convey- 
ing the wounded to the Kearsarge in charge of Lieut. 
Wilson. It is true the boat was much crowded, so much 
so that Lieut. Armstrong and Midshipman Anderson de- 
clined to go in her, though both were severely wounded. 
Still, in such an emergency and with a calm sea, the boat 
could have been loaded " gunwales to " with safety. 
The harbor is graced with a powerful French fleet, 



ALL HANDS TURN IN 253 

among the number being the line-of-battle-ship Napoleon, 
and one of the modern ironclads, the Couronne ; the latter 
being something new to us, one of the first results of the 
Hampton Roads action. This vessel is to accompany us 
beyond the marine league, and then see that in the excite- 
ment of battle we do not stray within the charmed lines. 
She certainly obeyed orders to the letter ; for escorting 
us to the verge of French territory she stopped, and was 
soon hull half-down ; and had we depended on her assist- 
ance we had certainly all perished. We do not state this 
disparagingly, but simply as a fact. She was no doubt 
following out literally the doctrine of neutrality as laid 
down to her commander by the port admiral. We are 
rather impressed with our isolation here, it is so different 
from our experience in English ports, and especially the 
warm, home-like hospitality of our friends left at Cape 
Town a few months since. 

We have passed a number of hours during our stay 
perfecting our crew in boarding-exercise, in which they 
were already quite proficient, and have them now, we 
think, fully up to the mark. Saturday evening finds us 
coaled, and in fine inspection order. Kell has in- 
spected the ship after his arduous week's labors, and re- 
ported her to Semmcs quite ready in all departments for 
to-morrow's work. Our men have conducted themselves 
with perfect propriety, and no breaches of the regulations 
have occurred. They are fully aware of the importance 
of clear heads and steady nerves. Our comrades of the 
navy who had come from Paris, to assist if allowed, have 
spoken their good-bys and earnest wishes for our success, 
and the vessel is cleared of all shore people. We are left 
to our own thoughts. All hands "turn in" early for a 
sound, refreshing sleep, so as to be " on deck " in the best 
of shape on the morrow. 



254 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 



CHAPTER XV 



THE ENGAGEMENT 



Sunday morning, June 19, 1864, preparations for the 
fight are made early in the day. At breakfast the offi- 
cers are advised of the last communication with the shore, 
and to make their arrangements accordingly. Soon after 
breakfast the yacht Deerhound, which we had observed 
to be getting up steam, moved out of the port, passing 
quite near us. The party on her were watching us with 
glasses, though no demonstration occurred, even from the 
ladies. At this time it was unknown to us that the 
departure was for the purpose of taking up a position 
of vantage to observe the engagement. We had no 
communication with the yacht or her people, and did 
not know but that her owner was continuing his pleasure- 
cruise. She passed from sight, and the French iron- 
clad frigate Couronne weighed anchor and stood out of 
the harbor. We could readily surmise that Jier purpose 
was to police the channel at the three-mile limit and 
overlook the fight. She never moved from the league 
distance during the entire period of the engagement, nor 
did she offer any assistance at the termination. The 
neutrality of the Couronne was of the positive, unmistak- 
able kind. It would have occupied a court but a short 
time to consider and pass upon it. 

Between ten and eleven o'clock we got underway, 
and stood out of the harbor, passing the French liner 
Napoleon quite near. We were surprised and gratified 
as she manned the rigging and gave us three rousing 



SEMMES'S ADDRESS 255 

cheers, her band at the same time playing a Confederate 
national air. It must have been an enthusiasm of local 
birth, a sort of private turn-out of their own. It was 
much appreciated by us, and no doubt stirred our brave 
lads to the centre. 

Sailors are generous fellows, and always take sides, 
when allowed, with the little fellow underneath. The 
scene from the deck of the Alabama is one never to be 
effaced from memory. We are passing out of the harbor 
through the dense shipping, the bulwarks of all of them 
crowded with heads watching our exit, and the shores 
f and mole a moving mass of humanity. The day is per- 
fect, scarcely a breath of air stirring, and with but a light 
cloud here and there in the sky. We soon clear the mole, 
and shape our course for the offing, to testify by blows 
and blood the sincerity of our faith in the justice of 
our cause, and to win, if possible, a crowning triumph 
for our brave commander. 

Our ship as she steams offshore for her antagonist, 
hull down in the distance and waiting for us, presents 
a brave appearance. The decks and brass-work shine 
in the bright morning sunlight from recent holystoning 
and polishing. The crew are all in muster uniform, as 
though just awaiting Sunday inspection. They are or- 
dered to lie down at their quarters for rest while we 
approach the enemy. A beautiful sight — the divisions 
stripped to the Waist, and with bare arms and breasts 
looking the athletes they are. The decks have been 
sanded down, tubs of water placed along the spar-deck, 
and all is ready for the fray. The pipe of the boatswain 
and mates at length summons all hands aft ; and Semmes, 
mounting a gun-carriage, delivers a stirring address : — 

" Officers and Seamen of the Alabama : You have at 
length another opportunity of meeting the enemy — the 
first that has been presented to you since you sunk 



'256 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

the Hatteras. In the meantime, you have been all over 
the world ; and it is not too much to say that you have 
destroyed, and driven for protection under neutral flags, 
one-half of the enemy's commerce, which at the begin- 
ning of the war covered every sea. This is an achieve- 
ment of which you may well be proud ; and a grateful 
country will not be unmindful of it. The name of your 
ship has become a household word wherever civilization 
extends. Shall that name be tarnished by defeat ? The 
thing is impossible. Remember that you are in the Eng- 
lish Channel, — the theatre of so much of the naval glory 
of our race, — and that the eyes of all Europe are at this 
moment upon you. The flag that floats over you is that 
of a young republic, who bids defiance to her enemies 
whenever and wherever found. Show the world that you 
know how to uphold it. Go to your quarters." 

Again at quarters, and resting " at will." It is the hour 
of prayer in old England ; and many a petition is now going 
up to the God of battle and of mercy for these brave 
fellows, many of them now about to embrace their watery 
winding-sheets. We are soon up with the cavalcade and 
leave the Couronne, the yacht still steaming seaward, and 
evidently bent upon witnessing the engagement. She 
is about two miles distant at the time we "open the 
ball." The Kearsarge suddenly turns her head inshore 
and steams towards us, both ships being at this time 
about seven or eight miles from the shore. When at 
about one mile distant from us, she seems from her 
sheer-off with helm to have chosen this distance for 
her attack. We had not yet perceived that the Kear- 
sarge had the speed of us. We open the engagement 
with our entire starboard battery, the writer's thirty-two 
pounder of the port side having been shifted to the spare 
port, giving us six guns in broadside ; and the shift caused 
the ship to list to starboard about two feet, by the way, 



THE BATTLE ON IN EARNEST 257 

, quite an advantage, exposing so much less surface to the 
enemy, but somewhat retarding our speed. The Kear- 
sarge had pivoted to starboard also ; and both ships with 
helms a-port fought out the engagement, circling around 
a common centre, and gradually approaching each other. 
The enemy replied soon after our opening ; but at the dis- 
tance her pivot shell-guns were at a disadvantage, not 
having the long range of our pivot-guns, and hence requir- 
ing judgment in guessing the distance and determining 
the proper elevation. Our pivots could easily reach by 
ricochet, indeed by point-blank firing, so at this stage of 
the action, and with a smooth sea, we had the advan- 
tage. 

The battle is now on in earnest ; and after about fifteen 
minutes' fighting, we lodge a hundred-pound percussion- 
shell in her quarter near her screw ; but it fails to ex- 
plode, though causing some temporary excitement and 
anxiety on board the enemy, most likely by the concus- 
sion of the blow. We find her soon after seeking closer 
quarters (which she is fully able to do, having discovered 
her superiority in speed), finding it judicious to close so 
that her eleven-inch pivots could do full duty at point- 
blank range. We now ourselves noted the advantage in 
speed possessed by our enemy ; and Semmes felt her pulse, 
as to whether very close quarters would be agreeable, by 
sheering towards her to close the distance ; but she had 
evidently reached the point wished for to fight out the 
remainder of the action, and demonstrated it by sheering 
off and resuming a parallel to us. Semmes would have 
chosen to bring about yard-arm quarters, fouling, and 
boarding, relying upon the superior physique of his crew 
to overbalance the superiority of numbers ; but this was 

^ frustrated, though several times attempted, the desire on 
our part being quite apparent. We had therefore to 
accept the situation, and make the best of it we could, 



258 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

to this end directing our fire to the midship section of the 
enemy, and alternating our battery with solid shot and 
shell, the former to pierce, if possible, the cable chain- 
armor, the latter for general execution. 

Up to the time of shortening the first distance as- 
sumed, our ship received no damage of any account, 
and the enemy none that we could discover, the shot in 
the quarter working no serious harm to the Kearsarge. 
At the distance we were now fighting (point-blank range), 
*.he effects of the eleven-inch guns were severely felt, and 
the little hurt done the enemy clearly proved the unser- 
viceableness of our powder, observed at the commence- 
ment of the action. 

The boarding tactics of Semmes having been frustrated, 
and we unable to pierce the enemy's hull with our fire, 
nothing can place victory with us but some unforeseen 
and lucky turn. At this period of the action our spanker- 
gaff is shot away, bringing our colors to the deck ; but ap- 
parently this is not observed by the Kearsage, as her fire 
does not halt at all. We can see the splinters flying off 
from the armor covering of the enemy ; but no penetration 
occurs, the shot or shell rebounding from her side. Our 
colors are immediately hoisted to the mizzenmast-head. 
The enemy having now the range, and being able with her 
superior speed to hold it at ease, has us well in hand, and 
the fire from her is deliberate and hot. Our bulwarks are 
soon shot away in sections ; and the after pivot-gun is 
disabled on its port side, losing, in killed and wounded, 
all but the compresser-man. The quarter-deck thirty- 
two pounder of this division is now secured, and the 
crew sent to man the pivot-gun. The spar-deck is by 
this time being rapidly torn up by shell bursting on 
the between-decks, interfering with working our battery ; 
and the compartments below have all been knocked into 
one. The Alabama is making water fast, showing severe 



THE ALABAMA SURRENDERS 259 

punishment ; but still the report comes from the engine- 
room that the ship is being kept free to the safety-point. 
She also has now become dull in response to her helm, 
and the sail-trimmers are ordered out to loose the head- 
sails to pay her head off. We are making a desperate but 
forlorn resistance, which is soon culminated by the death- 
blow. An eleven-inch shell enters us at the water-line, in 
the wake of the writer's gun, and passing on, explodes 
in the engine-room, in its passage throwing a volume of 
water on board, hiding for a moment the guns of this 
division. Our ship trembles from stem to stern from the 
blow. Semmes at once sends for the engineer on watch, 
who reports the fires out, and water beyond the control 
of the pumps. We had previously been aware our ship 
was whipped, and fore-and-aft sail was set in endeavor 
to reach the French coast ; the enemy then moved in 
shore of us, but did not attempt to close any nearer, 
simply steaming to secure the shore-side and await 
events. 

It being now apparent that the Alabama could not float 
longer, the colors are hauled down, and the pipe given, 
"All hands save yourselves." Our waist-boats had been 
shot to pieces, leaving us but two quarter-boats, and one 
of them much damaged. The wounded are despatched in 
one of them to the enemy in charge of an officer, and this 
done we await developments. The Kearsarge evidently 
failed to discover at once our surrender, for she continued 
her fire after our colors were struck. Perhaps from the 
difficulty of noting the absence of a flag with so much 
white in it, in the powder smoke. But, be the reason what 
it may, a naval officer, a gentleman by birth and education, 
would certainly not be guilty of firing on a surrendered 
foe ; hence we may dismiss the matter as an undoubted 
accident. 

The Kearsarg-e is at this time about three hundred 



26o TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

yards from us, screw still and vessel motionless, awaiting 
our boat with the wounded. The yacht is steaming full 
power towards us both. In the meantime, the two vessels 
are slowly parting, the Alabama drifting with her fore- 
and-aft sails set to the light air. The inaction of the 
Kearsarge from the time of the surrender until the last 
man was picked up by the boats of the two vessels will 
ever remain a mystery to all who were present, and with 
whom the writer has since conversed. The fact is, the 
Kearsarge was increasing her distance slowly and surely 
all the time. Whether the drift of our ship under the 
sail that was set was accomplishing this alone I am not 
prepared to say. But both Capt. Jones and Mr. Lan- 
caster noted it, and were under the impression that the 
fact entitled the yacht to the greater credit in saving life. 
There really seemed to be more method and judgment dis- 
played by the crews from the yacht than those from the 
Kearsarge. Capt. Jones and Mr. Lancaster both ex- 
pressed themselves in their communications to the press, 
that in their opinions but few of the Alabama's men would 
have been saved but for their presence, so little enterprise 
was shown by our enemy in looking out for us in the water. 
The Deerhound approaches the Kearsarge, and is re- 
quested by Capt. Winslow to assist in saving life ; and 
then, scarcely coming to a full stop, turns to us, at the 
same time lowering all her boats, the Kearsarge doing the 
same. The officers and crew of our ship are now leaving 
at will, discipline and rule being temporarily at an end. 
The ship is settling to her spar-deck, and her wounded 
spars are staggering in the " steps," held only by the rig- 
ging. The decks present a woful appearance, torn up 
in innumerable holes, and air-bubbles rising and bursting, 
producing a sound as though the boat was in agony. Just 
before she settled, it was a desolate sight for the three or 
four men left on her deck. 



THE LAST OF THE ALABAMA 26 1 

Engineer O'Brien and self were standing by the forward 
pivot port, a man from his department near, as his com- 
panion for the coming swim, a man from my gun division 
to act in the same capacity with me ; namely, mutual aid 
and assistance. We comprised all remaining on board of 
the late buoyant and self-confident band. The ship had 
settled by the stern, almost submerging it, and bringing 
the forward part of the hull, consequently, out of water. 
We were all stripped for the swim, and watching with cat- 
like intensity the rise of air-bubbles from the hatches, in- 
dicating that the ship would yet float. From the wake of 
the Alabama, and far astern, a long, distinct line of wreck- 
age could be seen winding with the tide like a snake, with 
here and there a human head appearing amongst it. The 
boats were actively at work, saving first those who were 
without such assistance. 

It has frequently been asked me, and in a recent con- 
versation with engineer O'Brien I found the question had 
been put to him often, " Why did you remain so long 
on board ? " We both seem to have been actuated by 
the same . motive and impulse, first to avoid the confu- 
sion and struggle going on in the efforts to reach the 
wreckage ; but the paramount feeling with me was ina- 
bility to grasp the fact that the Alabama was gone ! Our 
home ! around which clustered memories as dear and 
cherished as attended that first childhood one, and the 
faculties utterly refused to have the stubborn fact thus 
ruthlessly thrust upon them. They are rude wrenches 
these, that scatter shipmate from shipmate in a twink- 
ling, some to death, as in our case, and bury out of sight 
forever the ship which had come to be the material em- 
bodiment of a cause dear almost as life. A happier 
ship-hold it would be difficult to realize or picture, a 
sympathetic heart encountered at each turn of mess-room 
or quarter-deck, and this for two long years. O'Brien 



262 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

broke into the revery or day-dream by unceremoniously 
pushing the writer overboard, and following in his wake. 
It need scarcely be added that the bath cooled effectually 
the heated and disturbed brain, and turned the thoughts 
of all four of us to the practical question of the moment, 
— how expert a swimmer are you ? 

The Alabama's final plunge was a remarkable freak, 
and witnessed by O'Brien and self about one hundred 
yards off. She shot up out of the water bow first, and 
descended on the same line, carrying away with her 
plunge two of her masts, and making a whirlpool of con- 
siderable size and strength. 

The Kearsarge mounted two eleven-inch Dahlgren sheik 
guns, four thirty-two pounders, and one rifled twenty-eight 
pounder. The Alabama mounted more guns ; but the dif- 
ference in the bore of the pivot-guns of the two ships 
gave the Kearsarge much more weight of metal at a 
broadside, and made the disparity very great. The com- 
plement of the Kearsarge was one hundred and sixty- 
five all told, officers and men. The action lasted one 
hour and a half. 

A great deal has been said as to the merits of the fight ; 
and no little feeling has been displayed on both sides, 
each championing its own, and seeking to evolve from 
the result so much of credit and praise as the circum- 
stances permit. With the floods of light thrown on the 
event from time to time by the actors on both sides, 
assisted by the testimony of reliable and impartial outside 
lookers on, the reader should without a fear of erring be 
able to judge for himself the amount of credit to be ap- 
portioned to each of the combatants, and also to satisfy 
himself whether or no Semmes is under all the circum- 
stances to be censured for offering battle, and if blamed 
at all, to what extent, and in what particulars. Winslow, 
for protecting his ship with chain-armor, should, in the 



SEMMES TOOK CHANCES 263 

humble judgment of the writer, submitted with diffidence, 
be accounted as simply using proper prudence in the 
direct line of duty. He had not given, accepted, or de- 
clined a challenge. But it was his duty to fight if he 
could, and to win. Semmes knew all about it, and could 
have adopted the same scheme. It was not his election 
to do so. Winslow took every means at his disposal to 
destroy a vessel which had been a scourge to United States 
commerce, and most likely banished from his thoughts all 
sentiment of chivalry as out of place. 

The writer has already suggested from his own stand- 
point the motives for seeking the fight which may have 
moved Semmes ; but after all they are mere speculations, 
simply the sum-up of his own thoughts. No one will 
know just why he fought, and the reader has as good a 
right at a guess as any one. Semmes took the chances 
with the odds against him, and lost all but honor. He 
could have stayed in port, refitted, and been in good trim 
to meet any boat of the Kearsarge class. But we can 
look farther, and see that in this case no fight with her 
would have been probable. The chances are by the 
time the Alabama was ready for sea a fleet of American 
cruisers would have been off Cherbourg to blockade her. 
So looking at it, surely it was best to take the bull by 
the horns, and fight while there was some sort of a. 
chance. Semmes fought his ship with all the skill pos- 
sible under the circumstances, and displayed throughout 
the coolness and nerve you would look for from a man 
who had guided the Alabama to such marked success. 
The career of the ship under him is perhaps the most 
conspicuous object-lesson of judicious management and 
forethought in the annals of any navy, and the fact of 
defeat should weigh not at all against his judgment when 
we consider the fickle chances of battle. 

The courage of the man needs no telling ; but the in- 



264 TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA 

cident of his wounding, and the manner in which he bore 
it, may be of interest to the reader. He was on the 
horse-block at the time, and where he remained during 
-the battle ; and upon finding his right arm totally disabled 
by a fragment of shell, he simply called the quartermaster, 
and having him bind and sling the wounded arm, kept his 
position, and directed the steering and fighting of his ship 
up to the surrender. Kell was a devoted friend to him 
from the moment of his ( Semmes ) personal misfortune, 
sticking close by him, entering the water with him, and 
having the satisfaction of getting with him, safe from 
all harm, on the deck of the Deerhound. In the state 
of Semmes's health at this time, considering his age and 
the wearing cruise he had just wound up, it was fortu- 
nate for him that such a strong, athletic fellow as Kell 
kept near him all the while ; and who knows how much 
Semmes may owe to Kell for that companionship ? 

The writer had the deck just before getting under 
way, prior to being relieved, as customary, by the first 
lieutenant. The commander came up from his break- 
fast, saluted the deck, and received the usual touch of 
the hat in return ; then he said, " If the bright, beautiful 
day is shining for our benefit, we should be happy at the 
omen ; " and remarked how well the deck appeared, and 
that the crew ( casting his eye forward ) seemed " to enter 
into the spirit of the fight with bright faces." Finally, 
he put the direct question, tl How do you think it will 
turn out to-day, Mr. Sinclair?" I was surprised that he 
should care to have my opinion, or that of any one else ; 
for he rarely addressed any of us off duty, and never 
asked advice or opinion of his subordinates on weighty 
matters ; at least, not to my knowledge. My reply was ne- 
cessarily vague : " I cannot answer the question, sir, but 
can assure you the crew will do their full duty, and 
follow you to the death." — "Yes," he answered; "that 



SEMMES WOUNDED 265 

is true." And leaving me, he resumed his usual pacing 
of the quarter-deck. Most gratifying to Semmes must 
have been the sympathy and attention of the gallant, 
generous souls on the yacht ; and no doubt it contributed 
much to ease his sufferings of body and mind. 

In England he was warmly received on all sides ; and 
a number of his naval admirers united in a testimonial, 
which assumed the form of a handsome regulation gold- 
mounted sword, presented, it was stated, "To replace the 
one so gallantly worn, defended, and lost." 



APPENDIX 



SOME INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT 

When the order was passed to lower the colors, and the 
pipe " All hands save yourselves " was given by boatswain 
Mecaskey and mates, there was at once a rush of men 
from the gun divisions to protest against surrender. The 
excitement was great ; the men failing to realize that their 
ship was whipped beyond a shadow of doubt, and able to 
float but little longer. They demanded to have the honor 
of sinking with the colors at the peak (or rather at the 
mizzenmast-head ; for the spanker-gaff had long since been 
shot away). But a few positive words from Semmes and 
Kell quieted them. The Kearsarge was by this time on 
our quarter, in position for a raking fire, and we were 
altogether helpless. It was time to stop the useless 
slaughter, though the lowering of our colors was not ap- 
parently seen on the Kearsarge for a time, since she did 
not at once cease firing. No one was hurt on board of 
us after the act of surrender. 

The sad fate of assistant-surgeon Llewellyn has else- 
where been recorded. Late in the fight the writer went 
below to get a bottle of brandy to sustain Wright of his 
division, who had been seriously wounded, and came upon 
Llewellyn, standing deep in water, attending to the injured. 
"Why, Pills!" I cried, "you had better get yourself and 
wounded out of this, or you'll soon be drowned ! " His 

267 



268 APPENDIX 

reply was, " I must wait for orders, you know." But just 
then a gang of men came below, and he was enabled to 
get his injured men off the operating-table, and to the 
deck. The wounded were immediately placed in the boat, 
for transfer to the Kearsarge. Why Llewellyn did not 
accompany them it is impossible to say. It is quite likely 
he did not know the custom in such cases, and he may 
have waited for orders. The boat with the wounded, 
under the command of Lieut. Wilson, marine-officer 
Howell and master' s-mate Fulham each taking an oar, 
was at once cleared from the side. It soon becoming 
known that Llewellyn could not swim, a couple of empty 
shell-boxes were procured, and secured on his person, one 
under each arm, to serve as an improvised life-preserver. 
He took the water with this arrangement, and when last 
seen from the ship was making good weather of it, the 
sea being as calm as a dish. I learned later, on the yacht, 
that Llewellyn's death was brought about by the shifting 
of the floats upon his person, which seems most probable. 
Had he taken a moment's thought for himself, and let it 
be known that he could not swim earlier, he might easily 
have been saved. But he was the last man to think of 
himself in a time of general danger. 

Lieutenant of marines Howell was known to be no 
swimmer, and was allowed to take an oar in the boat with 
the wounded. After the transfer, his dress, or rather 
undress, not being recognized, and Wilson having gone up 
the side of the Kearsarge, and formally surrendered, he 
was requested by Capt. Winslow to return with the rest 
of the boat's crew to the wreckage, and do all he could to 
save life. It is hardly necessary to say that the request 
was cheerfully obeyed, or that the boat took all the men 
it saved to the Deerhound. 



-'/&&&& °t^; 









<^Z*r~, 


















^ 













' *<<L. 



Souvenir. Incomplete fac-simile list Alabama's killed, wounded, and drowned 
(As hurriedly compiled and handed Captain Jones by one of tha Alabama's seamen.) 



INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT 269 

During this time I made a second visit between decks. 
The scene was one of complete wreck. The shot and 
shell of the enemy had knocked all the compartments 
into one ; and a flush view could be had fore and aft, the 
water waist-deep, and air-bubbles rising and breaking with 
a mournful gurgle at the surface. It was a picture to be 
dwelt upon in memory, but not too long in the reality. I 
returned hastily to the spar-deck. By this time most 
of the officers and men had left for the water. The 
battery was disarranged, some guns run out and secured, 
some not. The spars were wounded wofully, some of 
them toppling, and others only held by the wire rigging. 
The smoke-stack was full of holes, the decks torn up by 
the bursting of shell, and lumbered with the wreckage of 
woodwork and rigging and empty shell-boxes. Some sail 
was set ; and the vessel slowly forged ahead, leaving a line 
of wreckage astern, with the heads of swimmers bobbing 
up and down amongst it. Toward this the boats from the 
yacht were rapidly pulling. The Kearsarge lay a few 
hundred yards on our starboard quarter, with her boats 
apparently free from the davits, and pivot-gun ports not 
yet closed, nor her guns secured. 

I went forward, and with a sailor of my division com- 
menced to strip for the swim, the deep settling of the ship 
warning us that she was about to go. I was ready first, 
and sat with my legs dangling in the water, which was 
now almost flush with the spar-deck, trying to secure a 
handkerchief containing a lot of English sovereigns about 
my neck while I waited for my companion. At this 
moment O'Brien suddenly appeared in our rear, and with 
a hasty " What are you loafing round here for ? Don't you 
see the ship is settling for a plunge ? Over you go ! " 
suited the action to the word, and shoved us both into the 
sea. He immediately followed us, and struck out sharply 
for the boats. But O'Brien's hurry cost me my gold ; for 



270 APPENDIX 

it was torn from my neck with the plunge, and went down 
to enrich the bottom of the Channel. However, we had 
got away none too soon ; for we had hardly cleared her 
when her bow made a wild leap into the air, and she 
plunged down on an inclined plane to her grave beneath 
the waves. As she leaped upward there was a crash, her 
main-topmast going by the board ; and the fore gave way in 
turn as she took her downward slide. The suction where 
we were was terribly strong, carrying us all down to a very 
uncomfortable depth. So deep, indeed, that with my eyes 
open in perfectly clear water, I found myself in the dark- 
ness of midnight. But our struggles soon popped us to 
the surface, which was by this time quite a luxury ; and we 
kept there very contentedly, swimming in an easy, take- 
your-time style until picked up. Being rescued, we were 
deposited, like caught fish, under the thwarts. But my 
sailor-companion soon discovered that it was a boat from 
the Kearsarge which had done us this favor ; and promptly 
consulting, we arranged to give it the slip, which was 
successfully accomplished in the confusion, taking again 
to the sea. The next time we were picked up, it was by 
a boat from the Deerhound. 

It was an incident of note in the fight that nearly all 
the killed were allotted to Joe Wilson's division. I can 
recollect of but one in Armstrong's, and in my division 
we had only one man wounded ; and yet the bulk of the 
enemy's fire was concentrated at the midships of the Ala- 
bama, and the death-wound was given at the third divis- 
ion, in the wake of the engine-hatch. 

Nothing could exceed the cool and thorough attention to 
details of our first lieutenant on this eventful day. From 
point to point of the spar-deck in his rapid movement he 
was directing here, or advising there ; now seeing to the 
transfer of shot, shell, or cartridge ; giving his orders to 
this and that man or officer, as though on dress-muster ; 



SOME INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT 2"]\ 

occasionally in earnest conversation with Semmes, who 
occupied the horse-block, glasses in hand, and leaning on 
the hammock-rail ; at times watching earnestly the enemy, 
and then casting his eye about our ship, as though keep- 
ing a careful reckoning of the damage given and received. 
Nothing seemed to escape his active mind or eye, his com- 
manding figure at all times towering over the heads of 
those around. How it must have touched him to see the 
wreck of our gallant boat, of which he was so proud, and 
which had been for two years his heart's chiefest care ! 
One must be in actual touch with such a life as ours to 
feel the inspiration. 

In the latter part of the engagement Semmes, from the 
vantage-ground of the horse-block, had observed that the 
Alabama was not answering to her helm promptly, and sent 
for engineer O'Brien, to ascertain the condition of the 
water in the lower hold. O'Brien reported it as almost 
flush with the furnace-fires, and rapidly rising ; also that 
the ship could not possibly float much longer. He was 
ordered to return to duty. Reaching the engine-room, 
engineer Pundt interviewed him ; and upon learning that 
the ship's condition was known to Semmes, and the only 
reply to this statement was, " Return to your duty ! " ex- 
claimed excitedly, " Well, I suppose ' Old Beeswax ' has [/ 
made up his mind to drown us like a lot of rats ! Here, 
Matt ! take off my boots ; " and suiting the action to the 
word, each assisted the other in removing the wet and 
soggy boots. But Semmes had made up his mind, from 
the report of his engineer, to give the order, "All hands 
save yourselves ! " The furnace-fires were soon after 
flooded, and all hands on duty below ordered to the spar- 
deck. Nor was the order given any too soon. 

Said engineer O'Brien, after the landing of the rescued 
party at Southampton, " I think for Spartan coolness and 
nerve these two German messmates of ours (Meulnier and 



272 APPENDIX 

Schroeder) surpass anything in my observation and read- 
ing. I was on duty close to them, a few yards only 
separating us. They had command of the shot-and-shell 
passing division, and were stationed at the shell-room 
hatch, tending the "whip-tackle." A shell entered, and 
brought up a few yards from them. It must have been 
a five-second fuse, from the distance of the Kearsarge 
from us at this stage of the action, for it exploded almost 
immediately. I protected myself as well as I could from 
the fragments. So soon as the smoke and dust cleared 
away, I looked, intending to go to their assistance, ex- 
pecting to find them wounded, or perhaps dead ; when, to 
my amazement, there they stood hauling on the tackle as 
though attending an exercise drill. They were the calm- 
est men I ever saw ; the most phlegmatic lot it was ever 
my privilege to fight alongside of." 

A most remarkable case of desperate wounding and 
after-tenacity of life was noted by the writer in the latter 
part of the fight. It was imperative to get the ship's 
head off if possible, the vessel not answering to her helm 
as quickly as desired, and the danger imminent. The 
Kearsarge would soon be in a position to rake us ; and 
though the wind was light, and the manoeuvre not likely 
to be of much practical benefit, a sail-trimmer and forecastle- 
man, John Roberts, was ordered out by Kell to loose the 
jib. He had executed the order, and was returning, when 
he was struck by a solid shot or shell, which completely 
disembowelled him. Roberts in this desperate plight 
clung to the jib-boom, and working along the foot-rope, J 
reached the top-gallant-forecastle, thence climbed down 
the ladder to the spar-deck, and with shrieks of agony, and 
his hands over his head, beating the air convulsively, 
reached the port gangway, where he fell and expired. He 
was a man of commanding stature, five or six and twenty 
years of age, of unusual physical strength, an able seaman, 



SOME INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT 273 

and as well behaved at all times as would be expected of 
an officer. An Englishman by birth, and a typical English 
man-of-war's man. 

It was a touching scene, the transfer of our wounded 
men as prisoners to the Kearsarge, in our only boat left 
seaworthy at the davits. Among them was James King 
2d, an Irishman, and a man of powerful frame. He had 
been made quite a "butt" by all our crew, quizzed on all 
occasions, not being an educated "sailor-man," but what 
we designated on shipboard a "landsman." " Conne- 
mara " was the nickname attached to him, suggested by 
the county in which he was born. King, who was of 
a hot, quick temper, had constantly resented the practi- 
cal jokes of the men at his expense, causing the vexed 
first lieutenant to wonder if it was practical to keep 
Connemara out of the " brig." He was for all this a 
generous, open-hearted Irishman ; and his attachment was 
strong for officers and ship. He was mortally wounded ; 
and just as his comrades were about to lift him into the 
boat destined for the Kearsarge, he sent for Kell, and 
stretching out his feeble hand to him, remarked, " I have 
sent for you, Mr. Kell, to ask your forgiveness for all the 
trouble I've caused you since my enlistment on the ship. 
Please forgive poor Connemara now he is going to his 
long home." Kell, kneeling by his side, supporting and 
stroking his head, said, " My poor, dear boy, I have noth- 
ing to forgive; nothing against you, my brave lad; and I 
trust you will be in better trim soon." — "No," was the 
reply ; " Connemara is going fast. Good-by, Mr. Kell. 
God bless you, Mr. Kell ! " He died on the Kearsarge. 

Michael Mars was another son of Erin, a splendid type 
of the English man-of-war's man, and appropriately named. 
He was in many ways the most remarkable figure among 
our crew, and trustworthy to the uttermost. Still, strange 
to say, constantly in the " brig " for minor offences, such 



274 APPENDIX 

as playing practical jokes on his messmates, and even at 
times including the younger officers, if the field was clear 
for the exercise of his pranks. Nothing vicious or of 
serious moment happened among his offences, making it 
therefore a worry to Kell to report and Semmes to punish 
him. An admirable part of his composition was his in- 
difference to rum. Mars distinguished himself in this 
memorable fight. He was compresser-man of the after 
pivot-gun, commanded by Lieut. Joseph D. Wilson, manned 
by twenty-two men, ten on each side, and two captains, 
first and second, in the rear. The gun, a very heavy 
one, eight-inch solid shot or shell weapon, had just been 
loaded and run out to fire, and Mars had stooped on his 
knees to compress (to retard recoil), when an eleven-inch 
shell from the enemy struck full in the middle of the first 
man on the port side of the gun, passing through the 
entire lot, killing or wounding them, and piling up on the 
deck a mass of human fragments. Such a ghastly sight 
the writer never saw before, and hopes never to see again. 
Mars at once rose to his feet uninjured, seized a shovel 
from the bulwarks, and soon had the mass of flesh over- 
board, and the deck resanded. To have observed the man, 
you would have supposed him engaged in the ordinary 
morning-watch cleaning of decks. The pivot-gun had a 
picked crew, selected principally from the coal-heavers 
and firemen, they being heavy, powerful men. At this 
stage the quarter-deck thirty-two pounder of Wilson's 
division, and commanded in person by Midshipman Ander- 
son, was " secured," and the crew sent to man the more 
important gun, depleted of half its crew. Later in the ac- 
tion, when the Alabama had settled with her spar-deck flush 
with the water, and all hope was abandoned, the order was 
given, " All hands save yourselves ! " through the boatswain 
and his mates. Semmes, who, with Kell, was stripping 
for the swim, seated on the quarter-deck, sent for Mars 



S">ME INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT 27$ 

and Freemantle, and telling them that he (Semmes) was 
unable to save his diary and ship-papers, his right arm 
being wounded by a fragment, of shell, asked if they could 
take care of them. The seamen accepted the trust ; and 
Bartelli, wading into the cabin, returned with them. Eas- 
ing themselves down in the sea, Mars swam with one arm 
to the boat of the Deerhound, holding the documents above 
the water, and Freemantle to a French boat. Semmes 
and Kell followed suit ; and the former had the grati- 
fication of knowing his notes were safe and once more in 
his possession. Mars would deliver the precious papers 
to none other on the yacht, though told Semmes was safe 
in the cabin. He wished to deliver them in person, and 
succeeded. This latter fact was learned by the writer 
from Capt. Jones of the Deerhound. 

We were soon steaming in the yacht to Southampton, 
which port we reached without further adventure. Here 
Mars left us, sailor-like, for another cruise. As the years 
roll by the writer often thinks of Mars, and wonders what is 
his fate ; whether he who did such gallant deeds was at last 
swallowed by insatiable old ocean, or whether we shall meet 
again, and tell each other of our later pilgrimage through 
life. If toiling here yet, may God, as in the past, keep 
watch and ward over the jovial, generous, and brave Irish- 
man ! 

Capt. Jones narrates a pleasing instance of noble self- 
sacrifice on the part of our captain of the forecastle. In 
coming up to a number of men struggling in the water, he 
observed an old gray-haired seaman swimming along con- 
tentedly, and while engaged pulling some others into his 
boat, called out to the old fellow, " Come this way, and get 
on board." To which the old fellow replied, " Oh, I can 
keep up for a while longer ! Save those other lads ; they 
need your services more than I do. Your boat can't carry 
all of us." 



276 APPENDIX 

SEEKING A HOME AFTER THE FIGHT. 

Upon landing at Southampton, a party of us started from 
the yacht on our own hook, to look up a hotel. We were 
rigged out in a most outlandish manner, as may be sup- 
posed, most of us without pants, coats, or shoes, the yacht 
people being unable to supply forty odd unfortunates with 
a complete outfit. We could hear the newsboys crying 
out the " extras," and of course supposed everybody knew 
of the sinking of the Alabama. Our first attempt was at 
the most fashionable hotel in the city. The bell of the 
private entrance was rung ; and upon being answered 
by the bell-boy, we asked to see the proprietor. The boy 
looked at us, taking " stock " all over, and hesitated to obey 
the request. However, he did so ; and the landlord ap- 
peared, and, hastily glancing over our persons, in a half- 
apologetic strain proceeded to explain that the hotel was 
full, and directed us to another. He, of course, had heard 
the news of the fight and its result ; and while professing 
to credit our identity and explanation, we were not swell 
enough for him or his hotel — at least, not in our present 
rig. This is the true translation of it. Foolish and short- 
sighted fellow ! We were as independent as mine host, 
and withdrew, held a consultation (for it was late in the 
night, and no time to swap horses), and an idea striking 
us, off we started for the wharf front. Our idea was to seek 
out some hostelry, the rendezvous of coasting skippers and 
mates. We discovered and "hove-to " at one of them, and 
found the reading-room of the hotel all agog at the news ; 
and our reception was right royal. " Come in, lads ! " was 
the answer to our request for lodgings. " God bless you ! 
come in, and make yourselves at home." And to attempt to 
convey the wealth of hospitality showered upon us would 
beggar language. The landlord was a retired coast skipper 
of the Bunsby order, and as jolly and great-hearted as 




HP 



Captain Evan Parry Jones 

Yacht Deerhound 

Photographed just after Alabama- Kearsarge engagement- 



CAPTAIN JONES'S STATEMENT 2; "J 

Bunsby's friend, Capt. Cuttle. A generous meal was after 
a while placed before us, our lads in the meantime telling 
the tale of the ill-starred Alabama. Little sleep for us this 
night. In the morning tradespeople were sent for, and each 
of us fitted out with all requirements, and money handed us 
besides. Our strong-box had not as yet arrived. Our 
landlord of the swell hotel was quite well " rasped " by 
the press for his churlish reception of us. Blessings on 
him for it ! As it turned out, by his selfish conduct we 
secured a real home. 



CAPTAIN JONES'S STATEMENT. 

On June 9, 1864, we were lying at St. Malo, where we 
landed Mr. Lancaster and family, after a cruise among the 
Channel islands. On their leaving, we immediately set sail 
for Cherbourg, calling on our way to Jersey for letters. 
We arrived at Cherbourg, and came to anchor close to the 
Alabama, and to an English sailing-yacht, the Hornet. 
We had no communication with the Alabama during our 
stay in the harbor, except to send alongside, asking permis- 
sion to visit, which they refused, saying that they were too 
busy. We could see from our vessel that they were prac- 
tising boarding-drill, and surmised that they had it in view 
to board the Kearsarge in the engagement which rumor in 
Cherbourg had it was to take place on the following Sunday. 

On the day previous to the fight I met Mr. Lancaster 
and family at the station (as was my custom), and informed 
him that the Alabama was lying in the harbor. I re- 
minded him that she was built at Messrs. Lairds' yard, at 
Birkenhead, during the time that the Deerhound was there 
being lengthened. I also told him that the Kearsarge had 
steamed in at the east end of the harbor, and out at the 
west, evidently taking a survey of the enemy. No doubt 
this was a great advantage to Capt. Winslow, who also got 



278 APPENDIX 

at the same time a full report of the Alabama's condition 
from the American consul of the port — especially as to 
the condition of her boilers, which I believe were in a very 
bad state. 

After the family came on board, they held a consultation 
as to whether they would go out on Sunday morning to see 
the fight. Mr. Lancaster put it to the vote, and Miss Lan- 
caster (now Mrs. Part) gave the casting vote for going out. 
Early the next morning we noticed that the Alabama was 
getting up steam ; and I ordered the same to be done on 
our little craft. Soon after breakfast we steamed quietly 
out of the harbor ; and when about four miles out, we ob- 
served the Kearsarge well down on the eastern horizon, and 
that the Alabama was steaming out of the harbor with a 
strong starboard list. She passed us close, heading directly 
for the enemy, and shortly afterward fired two or three 
shots with the starboard guns. The Kearsarge replied, also 
with her starboard battery. Both vessels were soon firing 
rapidly,- steaming slowly on a circle about half a mile dis- 
tant from each other. About thirteen minutes after the 
fight began, we noticed that there was a little confusion on 
the Kearsarge. I ascertained afterward that a shell had 
struck and entered the stern-post of the Kearsarge ; but 
unluckily for the Alabama it did not explode. Had it done 
so, there can be no question but that the Alabama's plan 
of boarding would have been successfully carried out. As 
it was, the greater speed of the Kearsarge frustrated her 
evident wish to come to close quarters, which we could 
make out plainly enough. In my opinion, had boarding 
been practicable, the Alabama would have made short work 
of her opponent ; for her crew were dare-devils from all 
nations, and picked for splendid physical qualities. I was 
under the impression at the time that the American consul 
had warned Capt. Winslow of the purpose of his enemy, as 
indicated by the incessant drills she was keeping up, and 



CAPTAIN JONES'S STATEMENT 279 

that the latter thought it as well not to accommodate. This 
was very much against the Alabama, as her ammunition 
was old and damp. I understand Semmes tried to get a 
fresh supply, but the French government prohibited it. 1 
The Kearsarge, as it was, had her well in hand the whole 
time, her superior speed enabling her to choose position 
and distance. As to the chain-armor, no doubt it saved 
her greatly ; but the Alabama's list to starboard was per- 
haps almost as great an advantage, presenting so much less 
surface to the enemy's shot. It was a fair stand-up fight. 
The two vessels were constructed of the same materials, 
and the chances at first seemed to be even enough. 

After the Alabama went down, we steamed round the 
starboard quarter of the Kearsarge, and Capt. Winslow 
asked us to render all assistance possible to the drowning 
crew. We picked up forty-two, including Capt. Semmes, 
who had a life-belt on when rescued. William Roberts, 
our chief steward, recognized Semmes in the water from 
having seen him previously on the Confederate steamship 
Sumter, at Gibraltar, where the Deerhound happened to be 
at the same time. Mr. Kell, the first officer of the Ala- 
bama, was rescued with Semmes ; and -Semmes probably 
owed his life to him, as he unquestionably did his liberty. 
It was Kell who suggested that Semmes should lie flat in 
the bottom of the boat, to prevent his recognition by the 
party in the Kearsarge's launch, which was close by us,' 
and who donned himself one of our crew hats, with the 
word " Deerhound " on it, and took an oar, so as to pass 
for one of our men. The question was asked from the 
launch whether Semmes had been saved or not. Kell 
promptly replied, " He is drowned ; " and the assurance was 
accepted, thus securing Semmes's escape. We were sorry 

l I suppose Jones refers here to our ammunition. He is mistaken in stating the 
Alabama was refused fresh powder. No request was made in this connection. We 
had not discovered our ammunition damaged until the fight was opened. Neutrality 
laws would not have disallowed us a fresh powder supply. 



280 APPENDIX 

we did not succeed in saving Mr. Llewellyn, the surgeon. 
Our boat was but a few yards off, and pulling toward him, 
when he went down. 

When we had saved all we could, we prepared to sail for 
Southampton. I consulted Mr. Kell as to the international 
law in the case (he having a deal of experience in such 
matters), whether we were bound to deliver the persons we 
had rescued to the Kearsarge. He replied that as long as 
we kept the English flag flying, there could be no question 
that those who had found refuge under it were entitled to 
its protection. This decision was later fully confirmed 
from higher quarters. At the time the Kearsarge was 
about two miles from us, evidently taking breath, and 
looking over her damages. 

On our way to Southampton we passed the sailing- 
yacht Hornet, Hewitt, master ; and one of the saved men 
remarked that they had all their treasure, including about 
sixty chronometers, on board her. The same evening we 
arrived off Cowes, where Mr. Lancaster went on shore 
and reported himself at Cowes Castle as a member of the 
Royal Yacht squadron. We landed all the saved men at 
Southampton. The next day Mr. Lancaster gave the 
Times correspondent all the details. Afterward Mr. 
Mason (of the Mason and Slidell episode) came on board, 
and thanked Mr. Lancaster and family for their kindness 
and humanity. 

When Semmes came on board he was wounded and 
exhausted, and a most miserable object to look at. But 
after a little nursing he came on deck as bright as a 
dandy-cock. Semmes seemed to be greatly reverenced by 
his crew, but I think Kell had their deepest regard. 
According to their idea, Kell was Semmes's mainstay 
and chief counsellor, and the commander owed much of 
his success and reputation to his first officer's sagacity 
and promptness of resource. 



CAPTAIN JONES 'S STA TEMENT 



28l 



The Deerhound was sold to Sir George Stuckley, and 
was at the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, with Sir 
Stafford Northcote on board. She was the first British 
yacht to enter the canal. She was subsequently sold 
again, and went to the coast of Zanzibar, where she was 
the means of rescuing many slaves. She eventually foun- 
dered in a storm. Thus ended the days of the historic 

little Deerhound. ~ ^ T ^ A ■ 

Ilvan P. Jones, Captain. 

Yacht Deerhound. 



John Roberts. 
James King, 2d. 
John Wellan. 



LIST OF KILLED. 

Christian Pust. 
Carl Pjava. 
Christian Olsen. 
Nine in all. 



Andres Pheiffer. 
John Mair. 
Peter Duncan. 



wounded. 

Commander Raphael Semmes. (Severely in right arm.) 
Lieut. Richard F. Armstrong. 
Midshipman Edw. M. Anderson. 



Jas. Broderick. 
Peter Hughes. 
William Morgan. 
Thomas McMillan. 
Wm. McGinley. 



John Neil. 
Thomas Winter. 
Robert Wright. 
Martin King. 
James Mason. 
John Russell. John Adams. 

Twenty in all. 



Saml. Williams. 
Jacob Berbot. 
David Williams. 
Robert B. Hobbs. 
Chas. Seymour. 



DROWNED. 

Wm. Robinson, Carpenter. Jas. Hart. 

Wm. Robertson, 3d. Asst. Engineer. 
David Herbert Llewellyn, Surgeon. 
George Applebee, Yeoman. Frederick Johns. 

A. G. Bartelli, Captain's Steward. 
Henry Fisher. Walter Van Ass. 

Thos. Murphy. Martin Widitch. 

David H. White, Wardroom boy. 

Twelve in all. 

Recapitulation : Total, forty-two. 



282 ARPENDIX 



LIST OF PARTY AND CREW ON THE YACHT DEERHOUND. 

John Lancaster, Owner. John Lancaster, Jr., Son. 

Mrs. Lancaster, Wife. G. G. Lancaster, Son. 

Robert Lancaster, Son. 

Catherine Lancaster, Daughter. 
Miss Wilson, Niece. Miss Brown, Maid. 

Evan P. Jones, Captain. , Seaman. 

Robert Hughes, Mate. Wm. Roberts, Steward. 

Harry Adams, Seaman. R. Durham, Cook. 

Page, Seaman. Wm. Bell, Engineer. 

John Roe, Seaman. Wm. Jones, Fireman. 

Robert Broderick, Seaman. Marshall, Fireman. 

Twenty in all. 



RESOLUTIONS AND LETTERS 283 



[COPY.] 

Confederate States of America, 

Executive Department, 

Richmond, Va., March 1st, 1865. 
Mr. John Lancaster, 

Lancashire, England. 

Sir, — It becomes my pleasing duty to transmit to you a 
certified copy of a Joint Resolution of thanks to Mr. John 
Lancaster, of England, for his friendly conduct towards the 
Commander, Officers, and Crew of the Alabama, passed by the 
Congress of the Confederate States of America and approved 
14th Feb., 1865. 

Permit me, as the Executive of the Confederate States, to 
join in returning to you the thanks of the people of the Con- 
federacy, and to express my own appreciation of the gallant 
and humane conduct displayed by yourself and the Crew of 
your Yacht, the Deerhound, in the rescue of Capt. Raphael 
Semraes, the Commander, and a portion of the Officers and 
Crew of the late Confederate States steamer, Alabama. 

Be assured that my countrymen will never cease gratefully 
to remember your generous conduct, and I trust that our sea- 
men under similar circumstances will ever be prompt to emulate 
your noble example. 

Accept the tender of the esteem and regard with which I 
am j Very respectfully, 

Your friend, 

JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



Joint resolution of thanks to Mr. John Lancaster, of England, 
for his friendly conduct towards the Commander, Officers, and 
Crew of the Alabama. 

Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of 
America, That the thanks of Congress and of the people of the 
Confederate States are due, and are hereby tendered to Mr. 
John Lancaster, of Lancashire, England, for his friendly and 



284 APPENDIX 

humane conduct in receiving in his Yacht, the Deerhound, from 
the imminent peril of death by drowning, Captain Raphael 
Semmes, the Commander, and a portion of the Officers and 
Crew of the late Confederate States steamer Alabama, on the 
occasion of the combat between that vessel and the United 
States Steamer Kearsarge in the waters of the British Channel 
on the Nineteenth day of June, Eighteen Hundred and Sixty- 
four ; and that his Excellency, the President of the Confederate 
States, be requested to inform Mr. Lancaster of the passage of 
this resolution, and to communicate to him a copy thereof. 

{Signed) TH. S. BOCOCK, 

Speaker of the House 0/ Representatives. 

R. M. T. HUNTER, 
President of tlte Seriate pro tempore. 
Approved 14TH Feb., '65. 

JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



Confederate States of America, 

Department of Justice. 

I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of a 
resolution of the congress of the Confederate States of America, 
approved on the fourteenth day of February, One thousand 
Eight hundred and Sixty-five, and of which the original roll is 
on file in this office. 

In faith whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
affixed the seal of the said Department, this 
[seal] Seventeenth day of February, Anno Domini, 

One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. 

GEO. DAVIS, 

Atty. Gen'l. 



24 Upper Seymour Street, 

Portman Square, London, 

June 21, 1864. 

Dear Sir, — I received from Captain Semmes, at South- 
ampton, where I had the pleasure to see you, yesterday, a full 
report of the efficient services rendered under your orders by 
the officers and crew of your yacht, the Deerhound, in rescuing 
him, with thirteen of his officers and twenty-seven of his crew 








I. John Lancaster 

2. Mrs. John Lancaster 

3. John Lancaster, Jr. 



4. Albert Lancaster 

5. G. G. Lancaster 

6. Catherine Lancaster 



John Lancaster, owner Yacht Deerhound, and Family 
(Photographed just after the Alabama- Kearsarge engagement.) 



RESOLUTIONS AND LETTERS 285 

from their impending fate, after the loss of his ship. Captain 
Semmes reports that, finding the Alabama actually sinking, he 
had barely time to ship his wounded in his own boats to the 
enemy's ship, when the Alabama went down, and nothing was 
left to those who remained on board but to throw themselves 
into the sea. Their own boats absent, there seemed no pros- 
pect of relief, when your yacht arrived in their midst and your 
boats were launched ; and he impressively told me that to this 
timely and generous succor he, with most of his officers, and a 
portion of his crew, was indebted for their safety. He further 
told me that on their arrival on board of the yacht, every care 
and kindness were extended to them which their exhausted 
condition required, even to supplying all with dry clothing. I 
am fully aware of the noble and disinterested spirit which 
prompted you to go to the rescue of the gallant crew of the 
Alabama, and that I can add nothing to the recompense already 
received by you and those acting under you, in the conscious- 
ness of having done as you would be done by ; yet you will 
permit me to thank you, and through you, the captain, officers, 
and crew of the Deerhound, for this signal service, and to say 
that in doing so I but anticipate the grateful sentiment of my 
country, and of the Government of the Confederate States. 
I have the honor to be, dear sir, 

Most respectfully and truly, 

Your obedient servant, 

(Signed) J. M. MASON. 

John Lancaster, Esq., 

Hindley Hall, 

Wigan. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



COMMANDER RAPHAEL SEMMES. 

The commander of the Alabama, during her famous 
career, entered the United States navy as midshipman, 
April i, 1826. He was appointed from Maryland, the 
State of his birth, and first saw service in September of 
the same year on the sloop-of-war Lexington, making the 
cruise on the vessel, and pursuing at the same time his 
studies. After a short leave of absence in October, 1828, 
was ordered to the sloop Erie, making a cruise on this 
vessel; and next, in January, 1830, was ordered to the 
frigate Brandy wine. In November, 1831, ordered to 
the Norfolk Navy Yard and Naval School at this point. 
Passed examination January, 1832, and received warrant 
as passed midshipman. The Naval School at Annapolis 
had not as yet been organized. In March, 1833, ordered 
to service in the bureau of navigation. In July, 1835, 
ordered to frigate Constellation as acting master. In 
March, 1837, promoted to lieutenant, and ordered to Nor- 
folk Navy Yard. In May, 1839, to the steamer Poinsett. 
In June, 1839, to tne receiving-ship at Norfolk. In Sep- 
tember, 1840, to the Consort, on coast survey. In May, 
1 84 1, to the Navy Yard, Pensacola. In July, 1843, to 
sloop-of-war Warren; and on August, 1843, to command 
of steamer Poinsett, on coast-survey duty. In September, 
1845, ordered to the brig Porpoise, home squadron. Made 
this cruise, and after leave of absence ordered in January, 

287 



288 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

1848, to the command of the Electra, coast survey. 
Served in the Mexican War on the brig Somers. Com- 
missioned commander October, 1855, and served on light- 
house board in various capacities until February, 1861, 
when he resigned his commission in United States navy, 
and at once tendered his services to the Confederate 
States government, at this time making Montgomery, 
Ala., the capital of the Confederacy. He was in Feb- 
ruary, 1 861, placed on the Confederate naval list, with 
rank of commander. Semmes's first duty in the new navy 
was a mission North for the purchase of war material and 
vessels suitable for cruisers. In the former he was emi- 
nently successful, purchasing immense quantities of war- 
stores ; but he failed to find a type of vessel, in the mer- 
cantile marine of the North, suitable for cruising. At 
the outset of the war, fully appreciating the immense 
interests at stake in the commerce of the enemy, and the 
value of armed cruisers to prey on it, Semmes bent all his 
eloquence to impress upon the Secretary of the Navy the 
importance of fitting out, at as early a day as possible, 
a fleet of this class of vessels. As a pioneer of this arm 
of service, he suggested the purchase of the Habana, a 
packet steamer between New Orleans and Havana, the 
only vessel available at the time at all suited to the work. 
He was authorized to purchase and equip this steamer, 
pending the building abroad of a type of cruisers fully 
suited for the work. This vessel became the Confederate 
States steamer Sumter. The cruise in this vessel, after 
running the blockade at New Orleans, though short 
(from June 30, 1861, to Jan. 18, 1862), was phenomenally 
successful, making eighteen captures, and fully establishing 
the wisdom of the move. This steamer was succeeded by 
the Alabama and others of similar type, the result being 
"that the foreign commerce of the United States was liter- 
ally, in two years, swept from the high seas, leaving the 



COMMANDER RAPHAEL SEMMES 289 

carrying trade of the world mostly in English hands. On 
the completion of the Alabama cruise, and subsequent 
sinking of the vessel, Semmes returned to the Confed- 
erate States via Mexico and Texas. In February, 1865, 
he was promoted to rear admiral, Confederate States navy, 
and ordered to command of James River iron-clad fleet, 
assisting in defence of Richmond. Upon the evacuation 
of the capital, Semmes destroyed his fleet, and, forming his 
command into a battalion, escaped to Danville per rail. 
He surrendered his command at Greensboro', N.C., May 
1, 1865. 

Semmes practised law in Mobile, Ala., the home of his 
adoption, from the close of hostilities to the end of his 
earthly career. A man of varied talents, and perhaps with 
out an equal for the work required, all things considered, 
in any navy of the world. As an expounder of interna- 
tional law he had few, if any, superiors. He had made the 
study of it not only a self-imposed duty, but the pleasure 
of his life from early years, and lived to reap the benefit 
and satisfaction arising from having thoroughly mastered 
its intricacies. He was not once finally defeated in all his 
numerous tilts with the legal talent of foreign powers ; and 
as a strategist on the ocean he was eminently successful in 
outwitting the plans of the commanders sent in pursuit of 
him. He rarely came in contact with them, and then gave 
them the slip with little trouble. He only came to blows 
with the enemy's cruisers by his own choosing. The ca- 
reer of Semmes on the high seas will probably rank as the 
most remarkable for daring and success in the annals of 
naval history. 

Semmes's verbal and written utterances manifest a bit- 
terness of feeling toward his foes which are calculated to 
greatly mislead one respecting his real character. That 
he also pursued Northern commerce on the high seas with 
a vigor and relentlessness that seemed absolutely malig- 



29O BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

nant is not to be denied. In a sense, his heart was un- 
doubtedly in his work. But he was uniformly just in his 
decisions. He respected private property and private feel- 
ings. And it was the rule, rather than the exception, that 
he provided in the best possible way for his prisoners, mili- 
tary and civilian ; and we have often seen that he gave 
them their boats and whatever their ships afforded of 
comfort and luxury to get away with. This was not the 
conduct of a malevolent partisan, but distinctly that of a 
generous and chivalric foe. 1 It is by his acts rather than 
by his utterances that a man like Semmes should be 
judged. He had a noble and generous soul. 



john Mcintosh kell, 

First Lieutenant and Executive Officer. 

The subject of our sketch was born in Georgia, and en- 
tered the United States navy as acting midshipman, Sept. 
9, 1 84 1. First saw service in this year on the sloop-of- 
war Falmouth, on the Gulf Station. His next service was 
in 1843, on board frigate Savannah, Pacific Station. He 
was present at the hoisting of United States flag at Mon- 
terey, when the United States forces took possession, and 
was in two engagements with the Californians, receiving 
flattering notice. Returned home in 1847, and was or- 
dered to Naval Academy, passed examination, and was 
ordered to sloop-of-war Albany, Gulf of Mexico. On 
this cruise was tried by court-martial, and dismissed the 
service, for refusing to obey the order of the executive 
officer to light the candles for the wardroom officers. 

1 Winslow himself paid a high compliment to Semmes ; for upon learning he 
proposed bringing the Alabama out for a fight, he (Winslow) did not for a 
moment doubt it, and evidenced it by ceasing to blockade the port at the marine 
league, keeping ten to twelve miles from the mole. Winslow honored the message 
and the man. 



joiin Mcintosh kell 291 

Young Kell refused to do this menial service, as beneath 
the dignity of an officer and a gentleman. The finding of 
the court was reconsidered, and young Kell honorably ac- 
quitted, and reinstated to former rank. In this trial Kell 
was' defended by Raphael Semmes as counsel. 

In 1852 ordered to United States steamer Susquehanna, 
flag-ship of East India squadron, under Commodore M. C. 
Perry, and was on the staff of Perry during the ne- 
gotiation of the treaty of commerce with Japan, 1854; 
then transferred to United States steamer Mississippi of 
same squadron, returning home by the way of California 
and Cape Horn. Ordered to surveying schooner Arago on 
the Texas coast. Next ordered to receiving-ship Pennsyl- 
vania, Norfolk. Next ordered to store-ship Supply, Brazil 
Station. Next to Pensacola Navy Yard, where he re- 
mained until the breaking out of the Civil War and 
secession of Georgia, when he tendered his resignation 
from United States navy, and offered his services to 
his native State. 

In April, 1861, commanded the State steamer Savannah 
for coast defence. May 26, 1861, received his commis- 
sion as lieutenant Confederate States navy, and ordered 
to report at New Orleans to Capt. Raphael Semmes, 
and assisted in fitting out the Sumter for service on 
the high seas. Here his services were invaluable. Ran 
the blockade on her through the Federal fleet at New 
Orleans, and was chased by the United States steamer 
Brooklyn for forty miles off the coast, escaping in a rain- 
storm. Made the full cruise on this vessel. The Sumter 
being condemned by survey at Gibraltar, Kell was ordered 
home, and proceeded with Semmes to Southampton en 
route to Confederacy via Nassau, West Indies. At latter 
point met orders to join Confederate States steamer Ala- 
bama fitting out at Liverpool. Proceeded to Liverpool. 
Found Alabama had escaped a few days before. He re- 



292 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

embarked and joined her at Terceira, Western Islands, 
as executive officer. Here he at once entered upon the 
arduous task of converting an as yet merchant-vessel 
into a full-fledged man-of-war, — mounting battery, orga- 
nizing crew, etc. 

Upon his return from England to the Confederacy 
through the blockade, after the sinking of the Alabama, 
Kell was ordered to the iron-clad Richmond, at Drury's 
Bluff, James River, under command of Capt. Mitchell. 
During his service at this point, an unsuccessful attempt 
was made by the squadron to destroy the pontoon bridges 
of the enemy, constructed lower down the river. The 
attempt failed. Later on Kell was invalided, after having 
remained some time in the hospital. From this date he 
was totally unfitted for service up to the surrender of 
the Army of Northern Virginia. Since the war, Kell 
served on the staff of Gov. John D. Gordon of Georgia, 
as adjutant-general of the State, and is, at this writing, 
occupying the same position on the staff of Gov. W. J. 
Northen. His official residence is Atlanta. General 
Kell's private residence is at " Sunny Side, " near Griffin, 
Ga., where, residing upon his plantation, he has turned 
his sword into a ploughshare, , and only " dreams of 
battles." 

RICHARD F. ARMSTRONG, 

Second Lieutenant. 

Born in Eatonton, Ga. Entered the United States 
Naval Academy as cadet from the State of Georgia, April 
21, 1857. Made two practice-ship cruises on the United 
States sloops-of-war Preble and Plymouth, visiting Cher- 
bourg, Cadiz, Madeira, Azores, and Canaries. Upon the 
secession of the State of Georgia, resigned warrant as 
acting midshipman, United States navy, Jan. 30, 1861. 



RICHARD F. ARMSTRONG 293 

Appointed midshipman of the navy of the State of 
Georgia, and assigned to command of brig Bonita, used 
as a receiving-ship, Feb. 26, 1861. Detached from 
Bonita, and ordered to steamer Savannah, Commander 
John M. Kell, executive officer, March, 1861. Detached 
from the Savannah and ordered to Georgia. Naval 
steamer Huntress, Commander C. Manigault Morris, flag- 
ship of Commodore Josiah Tatnall, March, 1861. 

April 17, 1 861, appointed a midshipman in the Con- 
federate States navy, and ordered to proceed to New Or- 
leans, and report to Commander R. Semmes in command 
of Confederate States steamer Sumter. June 30, Sumter 
ran the blockade, consisting of a strong fleet of steam- 
vessels. Made the full cruise of six months on this ship, 
burning eighteen vessels of the enemy ; and upon the 
arrival of the Sumter at Gibraltar, where she was con- 
demned as unseaworthy, Armstrong with a crew was 
left by Semmes in charge of her, pending further orders 
from the Secretary of the Navy as to her disposition. 
July, 1862, relieved of the command of the Sumter by 
Master' s-mate Andrews, he was ordered to report to 
Hon. Jas. M. Mason, commissioner of the Confederate 
States at London. 

Reported, and was ordered to await arrival of Capt. 
Semmes, who was to command the "290" (Alabama). 
Reported for duty on this vessel Aug. 10; and on Aug. 
1 3 embarked on steamer Bahama from Liverpool, and 
joined the Alabama at Terceira, Western Islands, Aug. 
20, 1862. At anchor here was a barque, transferring 
guns, stores, ammunition, etc., to the Alabama ; and the 
subject of our sketch was soon in his element, assisting 
the executive officer in mounting guns, stowing the 
magazines, stationing the crew, etc. All was chaos and 
excitement ; and order had to be brought out of it, and 
that quickly, as the enemy might at any time be down 



294 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

on us. Who better able to carry out our executive's 
orders ? None. In the engagement with the Kearsarge 
off Cherbourg, June 19, 1864, Armstrong was wounded, 
and was picked up out of the water by a French pilot- 
boat nearly exhausted, and taken into Cherbourg. He 
was confined for some time to his bed at the Hotel de 
l'Europe. Upon his recovery he was ordered to the 
Confederacy. Embarked on the blockade-runner Caro- 
line for Halifax, N.S., thence to Nassau; from Nassau 
to Southern Coast ; and after many attempts to enter 
Wilmington, was finally landed on the beach, crossed 
the Pedee River in a canoe to Georgetown, made his way 
to Richmond, and delivered his despatches. 

Next ordered to Wilmington. Dec. 24, 1864, finds 
Armstrong a volunteer in Fort Fisher, placed in command 
of a division of three guns by Col. Lamb commanding. 
Was present during the bombardment of Fort Fisher by 
Admiral Porter, and received honorable mention for 
marked gallantry in the official despatches. 

Here is what Armstrong says of the fight in a letter to 
the writer : " When I arrived in Richmond, I found an 
application on file in the Bureau of Orders and Detail 
from Admiral Semmes for my assignment to him as flag- 
lieutenant, and had some difficulty in declining it. I did, 
however, get off, and was ordered to Wilmington to await 
orders. While there, the bombardment of Fort Fisher 
took place ; and, like a fool, I had to be in it. It was the 
merriest Christmas Day I ever spent, old man ; and if ever 
there was hell on earth, the inside of that fort was 
surely ! " 

Next ordered to Charleston as second lieutenant of the 
ironclad Columbia, which vessel was sunk, in coming out 
of dry-dock, through treachery. Detached from her, was 
ordered to take Columbia's crew to Richmond to re-enforce 
Drury's Bluff. January, 1865, ordered to Charleston to 



RICHARD F. ARMSTRONG 295 

command a torpedo-boat. Upon the evacuation of Char- 
leston, the officers and crews of the fleet were formed into 
a brigade under Admiral Tucker, and known as "Tucker 
Brigade ; " and Armstrong was appointed captain of " Com- 
pany A." Marched to Fayetteville, thence to Durham, 
N.C., and was there detached and ordered to Richmond. 
March, 1865, ordered to school-ship Patrick Henry 
as instructor in gunnery. April 2 Richmond was evacu- 
ated ; and the midshipmen of the school were ordered out 
as escort to the President and cabinet, and guard to the 
specie of the Confederate States. Upon reaching Wash- 
ington, Ga., Armstrong was detached from the command, 
and soon after left for his home under parole. Armstrong 
settled shortly after the war in Halifax, N.S., and is at 
this time general agent of the Grand Trunk Railway for 
the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Armstrong was not 
wanting in any of the essentials in the make-up of a 
naval officer, and though but twenty years of age at the 
time of joining the Alabama, was as matured of judgment, 
as cool and unconcerned in danger, as an old and trained 
veteran. As an officer, with all the requisites for such a 
cruise as the Alabama was to make, Lieut. Richard F. 
Armstrong had no superior. As a sailor-man thoroughly 
up in his profession, and a typical graduate of the Naval 
Academy, Armstrong justly commanded the confidence of 
Semmes, and amply answered to it. The division he com- 
manded, embracing the one-hundred-pounder rifle-gun, 
was under his guidance brought to a state of almost 
perfect efficiency. The steamer Ariel would most likely 
have escaped us but for Armstrong's splendid shot. His 
baffled effort to sink the Kearsarge with his rifle-gun, 
reflects, in the state of our powder, no discredit on his 
judgment. The rapid destruction of the Hatteras was 
certainly due, I think, to his marksmanship. 



296 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

JOSEPH M. WILSON, 

Third Lieutenant, 

For reckless daring and fierce fighting instincts, " Fight- 
ing Joe," as he was dubbed by his shipmates, stood almost 
alone among his comrades. He was sui generis, a man 
out and out framed for war, a veritable Othello. Ap- 
pointed an acting midshipman in the United States navy 
from his native State of Florida, he entered the Naval 
Academy Sept. 21, 1857, and during his course of study 
made two cruises on the practice-ships Preble and Plym- 
outh, visiting Cherbourg, Cadiz, Madeira, Azores, and 
Canary Islands, fitting himself for the profession he was 
to take so distinguished a position in. Little could he at 
this time have imagined that circumstances would arise to 
force him from allegiance to the service and flag he was at 
the time so proud of, and array him, heart, soul, and ener- 
gies, against its principles and purposes. Upon the seces- 
sion of his native State, Wilson resigned from the United 
States navy, and on April 7, 1861, was appointed mid- 
shipman in the Confederate States navy, and ordered to 
the Confederate States steamer Sumter, Commander R. 
Semmes, then being fitted out at New Orleans for a cruise 
against the enemy's commerce. Upon the laying up of 
the Sumter at Gibraltar, Wilson was ordered to London, 
with instructions to report for duty to Hon. J. M. Mason, 
commissioner of the Confederate States to Great Britain. 
On the 10th of August, 1862, he was ordered to Confed- 
erate States steamer Alabama, and left Liverpool on 
steamer Bahama for Terceira, where he joined us, and 
served until the sinking of the ship. Wounded and a pris- 
oner, we next find Wilson in a role not at all to his inclina- 
tion or taste. But we will let his shipmate of both ser- 
vices, Second Lieut. Armstrong, tell the story : " On the 
Alabama, as you know, he commanded the second, or after- 



JOSEPH M. WILSON 297 

gun, division. Just before the ship sunk he was sent off in 
charge of the wounded men, who were transferred to 
the Kearsarge, and thus became a prisoner of war. Sub- 
sequently the Kearsarge transferred Wilson to the sloop- 

of-war (I cannot recall the name of this ship), which 

ship came into Dover, England. 

" Wilson had been treated by the officers of both ships 
with consideration ; and upon the suggestion of the captain 

of the , he came up to London on parole. He wired 

me from Dover, and I met him upon his arrival. Together 
we visited the Hon. John M. Mason, Confederate commis- 
sioner. Wilson had been intrusted with a letter from the 
captain, to deliver to Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Amer- 
ican minister, and which he was assured related solely to 
his release ; but he resented the fact that the letter was 
sealed. You know how obstinate Wilson could be on 
occasions, and this was one of the times when he showed 
the greatest pigheadedness. Neither Mr. Mason or my- 
self could convince him that, owing to his mission, it was 
not infra dig. for him to convey a sealed letter to Mr. 
Adams. He was extremely sensitive, and feared a rebuff 
from the United States representative. The long and 
short of it was, that ' old Joe ' took the next train for 
Dover and Fort Warren. But it was not to be. I had 
an engagement to accompany Mrs. Greenough to an 
evening party ; and, being full of regret for the unfortu- 
nate predicament of my shipmate, I called early upon her 
and stated Wilson's case. Mrs. Greenough was an ex-. 
traordinary woman, very talented, quick in perception, 
ready in resource. She had elaborated a scheme to ob- 
tain Wilson's release in ten minutes. I hurried off to 
the telegraph station, and sent several messages so as 
to catch Wilson before he had gone aboard ship ; and in 
this I was fortunate enough to succeed, and had the old 
boy safe in my rooms that night. Next day, accompanied 



298 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

by Mrs. Greenough (wax he was in her hands — and who 
was not ?), he waited upon the American minister, was re- 
ceived with courtesy, and came forth the bearer of a letter 

to Capt. of the United States ship , which Mr. 

Adams assured him would meet his wishes. Wilson re- 
paired to Dover, gave the usual parole, and was released a 
prisoner of war awaiting exchange. To one of Wilson's 
sensitive temperament his position was extremely galling ; 
and although, like the rest of us, he was full of scurvy, and 
needed recuperation, he never rested until he secured pas- 
sage for the Confederate States, his whole thought night 
and day being to negotiate a speedy exchange, and become 
once more a fighting man. And was not the old boy the 
Devil incarnate in a fight ? Did you see him on the nine- 
teenth, just after the half of his pivot-gun's crew had been 
ground to powder ? I did, and a cooler, braver dare-devil 
of a fighter I never saw. Well, Mrs. Greenough, under 
Wilson's escort, embarked for the Confederate States in 
the same steamer. In attempting the blockade at Wil- 
mington, the steamer was chased on shore under the guns 
of Fort Fisher, and poor Mrs. Greenough lost her life by 
the boat capsizing in the surf. Wilson speedily effected 
his exchange, and was assigned to the James River squad- 
ron, in command of the gunboat Hampton. At the evacu- 
ation of Richmond, Wilson burned his ship, and too"k 
the field in the brigade of Admiral Semmes, composed 
of the personnel of the James River squadron, and sur- 
rendered at Greensboro', N.C." This completes the 
official record of Lieut. Jos. D. Wilson. He afterwards 
engaged in various capacities ; indeed, a multitude of 
ventures. 

Here are some of the things he attempted, — cotton- 
planter, druggist, photographer (success), telegraph oper- 
ator (success), civil engineer (success), railroad contractor 
(success), auditor of railroad. Truly he was an all-round 



JOHN LOW 299 

man, — " Gen. Dependence " for the Democratic party in 
Florida during Reconstruction times. If the history of 
these times is ever written, Wilson's name will stand forth 
prominently. The people of Middle Florida, in their post- 
bellum troubles, looked up to, and depended on, Joe for 
everything. 

Wilson was killed in a railroad accident near Ouincy, 
Fla., some years ago. He was a true friend, a generous, 
big-hearted, gallant fellow. We will only add that Wil- 
son's devotion to Mrs. Greenough was simply sublime. 
Her sad death must have been the severest blow of his 
life. 5 

JOHN LOW, 

Fourth Lieutenant. 

Born at Liverpool, England, and educated in the mer- 
cantile marine of his native country, the advent of the 
Civil War found Low an adopted son of Georgia, and 
residing in Savannah. His excellent abilities attracted 
the attention of Capt. Jas. D. Bulloch ; and he was ap- 
pointed second officer of the Fingal, a steamer purchased 
by Capt. Bulloch for the Confederate States government, 
and loaded with war material. In company with Bulloch, 
he ran the blockade into Savannah. The Fingal being un- 
able to get out of Savannah, owing to increased vigilance 
of the blockading squadron, Low, in company with Bul- 
loch, proceeded to Wilmington, and took passage for Liver- 
pool on the Annie Childs. Prior to his departure for 
Liverpool, he was commissioned a lieutenant (dating from 
Nov. 5, 1 861), March 26, 1862. He took passage on the 
steamer Florida for Nassau, as bearer of despatches to 
Capt. John N. Maffitt, who had been detailed to command 
this cruiser, arriving at Nassau, April 28. From this 
point he returned to Liverpool, and joined the Alabama 
at Terceira. June 20, 1863, he was given command of 



300 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

the Conrad (Tuscaloosa). His orders were to cruise in 
the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and in the neigh- 
borhood of Cape of Good Hope, and rejoin the Alabama 
at Cape Town at a date fixed. She was not destined 
to rival her parent ship in captures ; for soon after parting, 
stress of weather forced her into Simon's Town, Cape 
of Good Hope, where she was seized by order of the 
British government, at the suggestion of the American 
consul, as having been unlawfully fitted out. Low, de- 
spairing of having his vessel released within a definite 
time, took steamer for England with his lieutenant and 
men. He did not succeed in rejoining the Alabama to 
participate in the fight with the Kearsarge. 

ARTHUR SINCLAIR, 

Fifth Lieutenant. 

Lieut. Sinclair comes from a naval family dating 
from Revolutionary times. His grandfather, Commodore 
Arthur Sinclair, commanded the United States sloop-of- 
war General Pike on Lake Ontario during the War of 
1812-1815; rendered distinguished service, and received 
honorable mention and promotion. His father, Comman- 
der Arthur Sinclair, was from 1823 to 1861 in the United 
States navy, when he resigned his commission as com- 
mander, and cast his fortunes with his native State, Vir- 
ginia, receiving his commission as commander in the 
Confederate States navy, in which capacity he rendered 
signal service to the Confederacy. 

Lieut. Sinclair entered the naval service of the Con- 
federacy May, 1 861, as master's mate, and was assigned to 
duty on the gunboat Winslow, serving in the fleet of 
Commodore Lynch in the sounds of North Carolina, and 
took part in the defence of Fort Hatteras. Upon the sur- 
render of this fort to the fleet of Commodore Stringham, 



ARTHUR SINCLAIR 301 

he was detached, and ordered to report at Norfolk ; was 
ordered to the iron-clad Virginia (Merrimac), and served as 
aid to Capt. Franklin Buchanan in the memorable engage- 
ment in Hampton Roads, March 8 and 9, 1862. After 
this engagement he was ordered to report to the Honorable 
Secretary of the Navy at Richmond, bearer of an official 
letter from Capt. Buchanan recommending his promotion ; 
received his commission as sailing-master, and was ordered 
to report at New Orleans to the commanding officer of the 
station, Capt. Wm. C. Whittle, as sailing-master and act- 
ing lieutenant of the iron-clad Mississippi, under the com- 
mand of Arthur Sinclair, at the same time being intrusted 
with the conveyance of the battery destined for the above 
vessel. Was present at the surrender at New Orleans, but 
did not participate in the action, the Mississippi being in 
an unfinished state at the time, and moored to the dock 
at the navy-yard. She was fired and destroyed by order 
of her commander. Escaped on river steamer Platona, 
landed at Vicksburg, and proceeded to Richmond. At 
the suggestion of Admiral Buchanan, ordered thence to 
Confederate States steamer Alabama, and instructed to 
proceed to Charleston. Ran the blockade from this port 
on the steamer Lucille for Nassau. Arrived safe, and 
reported to Capt. Semmes for duty, at the same time 
delivering to him important despatches from the Secretary 
of the Navy. Took passage, July, 1862, on the steamer 
Bahama with Semmes and other officers detailed for the 
Alabama. Upon arrival at Liverpool, found the Ala- 
bama had slipped the authorities, and put to sea. 
After gathering the remainder of the officers destined for 
the cruise, the head of the Bahama was turned south, 
steaming for the Western Islands, at which point their 
future vessel was to be met. Was raised to rank of lieu- 
tenant by Commander Semmes. 

After the sinking of the Alabama, Lieut. Sinclair 



302 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

was granted leave of absence to recuperate his health ; and 
just before the surrender was detailed as one of the lieu- 
tenants of the cruiser Texas, about completed on the 
Clyde, Scotland. Lee surrendered, and Othello's occupa- 
tion was gone. 

Lieut. Sinclair's naval life dates from his thirteenth 
year. He had the advantage of serving four years under 
his father in the United States navy ; first on the United 
States ship Supply in the Mediterranean and on the 
Brazil Station, and also in the Japan expedition of Com- 
modore Perry, 1852-185 5. His father spared no pains to 
ground him thoroughly in his destined profession. Sec. 
Mallory distinguished him with marked favor, and he 
was practically a volunteer in every position he filled 
during the war. 

IRVINE S. BULLOCH, 

Sailing-Master. 

Sailing-master Irvine S. Bulloch was appointed a 
midshipman in the Confederate States navy, Aug. 29, 
1 86 1, from the State of Georgia, and first saw service on 
the gunboat Savannah, Savannah River, under Capt. John 
N. Maffitt (afterwards the commander of the Confederate 
States cruiser Florida). His next service was on board 
steamer Nashville, Capt. R. B. Pegram. This vessel ran 
the blockade as a cruiser, making the run to Southamp- 
ton, England, and returned, penetrating the blockade 
again at Beaufort, N.C. This vessel burned two prizes en 
route. In February, 1862, ordered to steamship Nanse- 
mond, Norfolk, as aid to Commander Sydney S. Lee. 
Next ordered to Charleston, and thence through blockade 
to Nassau ; thence to Liverpool, and per steamer Bahama 
to Terceira, Azores, and joined the Alabama. Bulloch 
joined the vessel as midshipman, and was a most promis- 
ing young officer, born and cut out for a sailor. With a 



BECKETT K. HOWELL 303 

few months' practice and experience he had so far mas- 
tered his profession as to earn from Semmes promotion to 
master, and ably navigated the vessel the remainder of 
the cruise, assuming also the duties of watch-officer. 
He was an indefatigable student of his profession, 
pursuing its study at every spare moment, and at the 
end of the cruise had little to learn of the duties of a 
sailor. 

In August, 1864, Bulloch was ordered in steamship 
Laurel to Madeira, and joined the Confederate States 
steamer Shenandoah, Capt. J. I. Waddell, and made the 
memorable cruise in this vessel as sailing-master, visiting 
the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans, capturing many 
whalers, and completing the destruction of the United 
States mercantile marine in the Pacific. When off San 
Francisco in the Shenandoah, August, 1865, it was learned 
the war was over. The ship was brought to Liverpool, 
and on the 6th of November, 1865, turned over to the 
English government. Here Bulloch found his commis- 
sion as lieutenant awaiting him, but no country to 
serve. At this writing, Bulloch is engaged in the peace- 
ful pursuit of a cotton-broker at Liverpool. For him 
also, — 

" Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front." 



BECKETT K. HOWELL, 

Lieutenant Marines. 

Howell entered the United States marine corps as 
first lieutenant of marines, his commission dating Aug. 1, 
i860. His appointment was from the State of Louisiana. 
Howell comes from a distinguished family of the South, 
and was nurtured in chivalry and love of arms. He was a 
thorough soldier and drill-officer, taking pride in his pro- 
fession, and although without a marine guard on the Ala- 



304 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

bama, was indispensable in drilling the crew at the manual 
of arms. Howell first saw service at Washington Barracks, 
but upon the secession of his State resigned his com- 
mission, and accepted service with the Confederate States, 
under commission of lieutenant of marines, dated March 
29, 1 86 1, and was ordered to the cruiser Sumter at New 
Orleans, organizing her marine guard, and commanding it 
during the memorable cruise of that vessel. Proceeded 
from Gibraltar, upon laying up of the Sumter, to England, 
and was ordered to the Alabama, making the entire cruise 
on her. He was quite active after the fight in rescuing 
the wounded, and assisting in transferring them to the 
Kearsarge. Howell took passage later for the Confed- 
eracy, and served the remainder of the war on shore-duty. 
He died some years since from fever contracted on the 
Mississippi River. He was a big-hearted, generous fellow, 
ever ready to please a shipmate. Semmes's affection for 
him was marked, and he was distinctly the favorite with 
him among the ship's officers. 



FRANCIS L. GALT, 

Surgeon and Acting Paymaster. 

F. L. Galt, a Virginian by birth, was appointed assis- 
tant-surgeon in the United States navy from the State of 
Georgia, Sept. 28, 1855, and made his first cruise on the 
frigate St. Lawrence, flag-ship of Commodore French 
Forrest, to the Brazil station, being absent four years. 
Upon his return was assigned to duty on the receiving- 
ship Pennsylvania at Norfolk Navy Yard. Soon after, 
transferred to the naval hospital, same station. From 
this duty was ordered to the gunboat Pocahontas, home 
station, cruising principally in the Gulf of Mexico. Re- 
turned in her to Norfolk, April, 1861 ; and at that port, 



FRANCIS L. GALT 



305 



Virginia having seceded from the Union, resigned his 
commission as post assistant-surgeon. 

Entered Confederate States navy April 15, 1 861, as sur- 
geon, and ordered to report at New Orleans to Comman- 
der R. Semmes, for duty on Confederate States steamer 
Sumter. Made the entire cruise in this vessel, and upon 
her being condemned, and laid up at Gibraltar, in com- 
pany with Commander Semmes and executive officer Kell 
left for London, and thence with them for the Confeder- 
acy via Nassau. Finding at this latter port orders to 
join Confederate States steamer Alabama, embarked later 
for Liverpool per S. S. Bahama, thence per same steamer 
to Terceira. He entered upon his duties, making the 
entire cruise. After the destruction of the Alabama, Gait 
took passage on a blockade-runner, arriving at Wilmington, 
N.C. ; and was soon after, October, 1864, ordered to the 
heavy batteries on the James River, between Drury's Bluff 
and Howlett's, and for some time acted as fleet-surgeon to 
the James River ironclads, in absence of the fleet-sur- 
geon. Upon the retirement of the army from Richmond, 
he joined the naval battalion under the command of Com- 
modore John R. Tucker, General Custis Lee's division, 
which was captured at Saylor's Creek fight. From this 
point the remnant of the division marched to Appomattox 
Court-House. Here surrendered, and was paroled April 
9, 1865. Gait was next appointed surgeon on the " Hy- 
drographic Commission of the Amazon," an expedition 
fitted out by the Peruvian government, under the com- 
mand of Admiral Tucker of the Peruvian navy. The 
object of this expedition was to explore the head-waters of 
the Amazon River with a view to finding an outlet to the 
Atlantic. This was a most dangerous and adventurous 
undertaking, the route being through an almost unknown 
and primeval wilderness. The expedition finished its 
work, and was disbanded in 1875. Gait returned to his 



306 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

native State, Virginia, and is at this time practising his 
profession at Welbourne, Loudoun County, " far from the 
madding crowd's ignoble strife." The highest indorse- 
ment as to ability in his profession is to be expected from 
us. Surgeon Gait during the entire cruise of the Ala- 
bama in all climates, the officers and crew undergoing 
hardship of every sort, did not lose by disease one soul 
out of the two hundred and thirteen men serving from 
first to last on the vessel. A gratifying and remarkable 
record. Gait also performed the duties of paymaster, in 
absence of a regular officer of this grade, and was as apt 
at figures as with his instruments and pills. Indeed, it is 
the opinion of the writer- that, upon a pinch, Gait could 
have performed the duties of a line-officer, having looked 
on for so many years, with intelligent appreciation, the 
exigencies and resources of sailor-craft. 

DAVID HERBERT LLEWELLYN, 
Assistant Surgeon. 

Assistant-Surgeon Llewellyn was born in Wiltshire, 
England, — a grandson of Lord Herbert, and son of a 
divine of the Church of England. He graduated in i860, 
and was appointed surgeon of the steamer Bahama, char- 
tered to convey the officers destined for the Alabama to 
Terceira. Upon completion of the arming of the cruiser, 
Llewellyn, who had made application, was commissioned 
by Semmes assistant-surgeon and made the entire cruise 
in the ship. 

After the engagement with the United States steamer 
Hatteras off Galveston, he rendered valuable assistance to 
the surgeons of latter vessel in attention to their wounded. 
Llewellyn was made surgeon at Kingston, Jamaica, when 
Gait was installed as paymaster ; and later on was conspic- 
uous for his devotion to the wounded of our own vessel 



MILES J. FREEMAN 



307 



in the engagement off Cherbourg with the Kearsarge. 
Not until the water was knee-deep in the sick-bay, and the 
ship rapidly sinking, did he hearken to the order, "All 
hands save yourselves ! " After seeing his wounded safe 
under the care of the Kearsarge surgeons, he took to the 
water and lost his life. A monument to his memory, we 
learn, stands in Charing Cross Hospital courtyard, erected 
by his fellow students. Llewellyn joined the Southern 
cause from sympathy for a people struggling, as he believed, 
for liberty and firesides ; hence especially sad was his end. 
We look surely for decided action from those to the manor 
born ; they have done but their duty. But a foreigner, 
simply guided by a generous impulse to aid people whose 
cause appeals to his sense of justice and right, and because 
the odds are against them, becomes the champion of 
principle, pure and simple, and merits a deeper reverence 
and admiration. Llewellyn's motives admit of no question 
by those who knew him, and they place him in the same 
class with the honored Marquise de Lafayette. 

MILES J. FREEMAN, 

Chief Engineer. 

Miles J. Freeman, chief engineer of the Confeder- 
ate States steamer Alabama, was born in Wales, and after 
a technical education in Scotland, removed to New Or- 
leans, La., and served as chief engineer of the mer- 
chant steamer Habana, of the Havana line. When this 
steamer was purchased by the Confederate government, 
Freeman was, by the recommendation of Semmes, ap- 
pointed chief engineer in the Confederate States navy 
from the State of Louisiana, ranking from Feb. 15, 1861. 
He had charge of the altering and refitting of the Ha- 
bana, changed to the Confederate States steamer Sumter. 
Freeman was a man of fine ability in his profession ; and 



308 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

no little credit is due him for the manner in which, under 
many disadvantages, he succeeded in putting on the 
ocean a fairly serviceable cruiser. Upon the completion of 
the Sumter he was ordered to her as chief engineer, and 
made the entire cruise in her ; and upon her being laid 
up at Gibraltar, after a cruise of between six and seven 
months, was detached and ordered to England. He was 
again chosen by Semmes as chief engineer of the Con- 
federate States steamer Alabama, and joined this vessel 
with the detail of officers taking passage from Liverpool 
in the English steamer Bahama. He made the entire 
cruise on this vessel, and was, after the fight off Cher- 
bourg, taken prisoner by the Kearsarge, transferred to 
Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, and served his time out 
there until the close of the war. After the close of the 
war Freeman again entered the merchant service as chief 
engineer, and was up to the time of his death, some years 
since, in the employ of a steamship line out of New 
York. Freeman was of a phlegmatic disposition and 
exceedingly reticent. He did not avail himself of his 
opportunities of parole. Had he sought an audience with 
the United States minister at London, through the com- 
mander of the Kearsarge, after his capture, he doubtless 
would have been paroled, as Lieut. Wilson was, and need 
not have pined the remainder of the war in prison. Free- 
man was an able officer and true friend. His wheel has 
ceased to turn. May he rest in peace ! 

WILLIAM P. BROOKS, 

First Assistant-Engineer, 

Engineer Brooks was born in Charleston, S.C., and 
after serving his apprenticeship, was appointed first assis- 
tant-engineer of the merchant steamer Habana, of which 
Miles J. Freeman was chief. He was likewise selected 



MA THE IV O'BRIEN 309 

by Commander Semmes as an engineer of the Sumter, 
receiving his commission in the Confederate States navy 
from the State of Louisiana as first assistant-engineer, 
May 11, 1 861, and assisted fitting the Sumter for sea. 
He made the entire cruise on that vessel, and was also 
ordered with the rest of the Sumter's officers to London. 
Brooks and his party of officers came near losing their 
lives by the foundering of the steamer in which they had 
taken passage to London. He awaited orders for some 
time in London ; and upon the return of Commander 
Semmes from Nassau to Liverpool, Brooks, at his request, 
was detailed for the Alabama, reaching her by steamer 
Bahama to Terceira. He made the entire cruise on the 
vessel, participating in the fight off Cherbourg, and was 
among the rescued by the yacht Deerhound. After a 
short furlough he was ordered to the Confederate iron- 
clad Stonewall, completed the latter part of the war, and 
made the short and uneventful, though exciting cruise in 
this ship as chief engineer. At the close of the war 
Brooks entered the Spanish navy as chief engineer ; but 
the service not proving congenial to his taste, he resigned 
his commission, and took service with the Ocean Steam- 
ship Company, as chief engineer of the Tallahassee. 
Brooks died some years since, in the service of the above 
company. 

MATHEW O'BRIEN, 
Second Assistant-Engifieer. 

Of the officers of the Confederate States navy serving 
on cruisers, O'Brien ranks among the most fortunate in 
the nature of his service, being attached for the entire 
period of the war to the three most noted Confederate 
cruisers afloat. Starting upon the lowest rung of the lad- 
der, his abilities and faithfulness raised him in this short 
period to the very topmost. He was born in County 



3IO BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

Limerick, Ireland, in 1837. His parents immigrated to 
this country, and settled at Tuscaloosa, Ala., when he was 
six years old. Five years later they moved to New Or- 
leans. In 1852 O'Brien was entered an apprentice at 
Leed's foundry, serving his time in the machine-shop until 
the breaking out of hostilities. On May 20, 1861, he was 
commissioned third assistant-engineer, Confederate States 
navy, from the State of Louisana, and assigned to duty 
on the Sumter. When the Sumter was laid up at Gibral- 
tar, he was ordered to Liverpool, and, taking passage on 
the British Steamer Euphrosyne, with other of his brother 
officers was wrecked in Vigo Bay, Spain, and narrowly 
escaped with his life. Eventually arriving at Liverpool, 
he was assigned to the Alabama, and upon the arrival of 
Semmes, took passage on the Bahama for Terceira. After 
the destruction of the Alabama he was placed on waiting 
orders ; and in October, 1864, he was ordered to the Shen- 
andoah, and made the full cruise in this vessel as chief en- 
gineer. On the surrender of the Shenandoah at Liverpool, 
seven months after the close of hostilities, he returned 
home, and soon entered the employ of the Morgan Steam- 
ship Line, where he remained until he was appointed to 
his present position. O'Brien is now United States super- 
vising inspector of steam-vessels for the tenth Louisiana 
district, with headquarters at New Orleans. 

O'Brien's skill and resource were very unusual, even in 
the line to which officers of his grade are most carefully 
trained. The Alabama cruised for two years without 
opportunity to avail herself of machine-shops and dock- 
yards, and at the end of that time her machinery was in 
excellent condition and her boilers still available. Candor 
requires the statement that this circumstance was due 
principally to O'Brien's mechanical skill and long practical 
training as a machinist. 

But O'Brien possessed another trait of almost equal 



WILLIAM ROBERTSON 31I 

value, when the monotony and hardships of our cruise are 
considered with reference to their effect upon our temper 
and spirits. He was without exception the jolliest fellow 
I ever met, and possessed a wonderful power of imparting 
cheerfulness and good-nature to every person with whom 
he came in contact. He had a marvellous faculty for dis- 
covering the ludicrous side of misfortune, and could point 
out the silver lining of hope on the darkest clouds of 
our discontent. Who shall say whether the mechanical 
or moral value of such a comrade is to be deemed the 
greater ? 



WILLIAM ROBERTSON, 

Fourth Assistant-Engineer. 

There is little data at my disposal respecting Robert- 
son. He was appointed assistant-engineer by Commander 
Semmes, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Cum- 
mings. He was an Englishman. He had left an English 
steamer at Cape Town, and was looking out for a position 
in the line of his profession. Semmes appointed him on 
the strength of his letters of recommendation. He proved 
an efficient engineer, and stood gallantly at his post in the 
fight off Cherbourg, like a true Briton. He is believed to 
have lost his life in the engine-room, owing to the rapid 
sinking of the ship after receiving her death-wound. At 
any rate, he perished in the fight, which is a sufficient testi- 
mony of his devotion to the cause he had espoused, and 
should entitle him to the grateful remembrance of those to 
whom it was dear. 



BARON MAXIMILIAN VON MEULNIER, 

Master' s-Mate. 

This gentleman was an officer in the Prussian navy, 
and was on leave of absence at the time of joining the 



312 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

Alabama. While making a tour of the world he was ship- 
wrecked near Table Bay, and on the arrival of the Ala- 
bama applied to Semmes for a position on board. Semmes 
questioned him carefully, and finding him a thoroughly 
able and educated officer, gave him an appointment as act- 
ing master' s-mate. He was especially valuable to us be- 
cause, beside his abilities as an officer, he was familiar 
with the language of most places it might be necessary 
for us to visit. He was permitted to remain with us 
during the entire cruise, securing the confidence and 
friendship of his brother officers, and from the first the 
respect of the crew. Upon the Alabama's arrival at 
Cherbourg, and before it was known that a fight would 
take place, he was paid off and released from duty. He 
proceeded to Paris, but there learning of the impending 
fight, managed to return to the ship, and to render the 
bravest and most important service during the engage- 
ment. We parted with him at Southampton, from which 
port he returned to his native place, Berlin. Of his sub- 
sequent career the writer has been able to obtain no in- 
formation. May his lines fall in pleasant places was and 
is the prayer of his sometime shipmates. With him, as 
with Llewellyn, the motive to service was not merely 
adventurous. He possessed a strong sympathy for the 
Southern cause, and seemed as deeply pained as any of 
us at its ill success. 



JULIUS SCHROEDER, 

Master' s-M ate. 

Julius Schroeder was likewise of noble birth, and an 
officer of the Prussian navy. He was travelling with Von 
Meulnier, and was also his companion in the shipwreck, 
and with him applied to Semmes for a place on the Ala- 
bama. He likewise served on the entire cruise, and after 



JAMES EVANS 3!^ 

being discharged at Cherbourg, returned with his friend 
to participate in the fight with the Kearsarge. Schroeder 
had a peculiar, genial temperament, and was a great fa- 
vorite with his shipmates. He was rather a phlegmatic, 
undemonstrative fellow, cool as a cucumber in danger 
and when all about him was excitement, thoroughly un- 
selfish, always ready to take a fellow's watch or other- 
wise relieve a tired soul from trying duty. After his 
return to Prussia, his scientific and literary tastes appar- 
ently supplanted the military ardor of his youth. I am 
informed that he is at present a professor of mathe- 
matics in one of the great German universities. 

JAMES EVANS, 
Master 's-M 'ate. 

At the breaking-out of the war, Evans was a pilot 
at Charleston, S.C., and owner of the pilot-boat Rover. 
His first feat was to take into this port an English sailing- 
vessel, the "A and A.," through the blockade maintained 
by the United States steam frigate Niagara and other war 
vessels. He next ventured out of port as prize-master of 
the privateer Savannah, capturing the merchant-brig Jo- 
seph. Evans took his prize into Georgetown. Southern 
coast-pilots being wanted for the blockade-runners leaving 
Europe, Evans took passage on the Confederate States 
steamer Nashville for England, arriving about the time 
of the Alabama's escape from Liverpool. His services 
being needed, orders were duly issued assigning him to 
the Alabama, with the rank of master's-mate. Evans 
was a thorough sailor, a clear-headed, sagacious officer, 
and possessed a gift or acquirement of the greatest value 
to us. Upon a report of a sail from the mast-head, Evans 
would be ordered aloft with his spyglass to report upon 
her probable nationality. As to whether the sail was a 



314 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Yankee or otherwise, his report could be absolutely re- 
lied on. Not once during the entire cruise did he make 
a mistake in this respect. After testing him for some 
time, Semmes would simply decline to chase when a sail 
was pronounced by Evans to be neutral. 

After the war Evans returned to Charleston, and re- 
sumed his profession as a harbor pilot. As the writer has 
had occasion in the body of his narrative to speak of Evans 
at some length, and his naval experience was confined 
to the cruise of the Alabama, no further information 
respecting his history belongs properly to the public. 

GEORGE T. FULHAM, 
Masters-Mate. 

George T. Fulham was an Englishman by birth, and 
received his earlier nautical education in the English mer- 
chant service. His sphere of usefulness to us began in 
conjunction with our various agents abroad, engaged in 
blockade-running, cruiser-building, and fitting-out. Fulham 
attracted the attention of Capt. Jas. D. Bulloch ; and when 
the latter officer took passage on the Bahama for Terceira, 
to superintend the arming of the Alabama, Fulham was in 
the party accompanying him, and was warranted a master's- 
mate by Semmes. He made the entire cruise, and was as 
capable and trustworthy an officer as we had, in the line 
of his duty. Fulham was called upon to board more 
vessels than any officer of our ship, relieving the lieu- 
tenants and watch-officers of much of this arduous and 
dangerous duty. From his previous experience and edu- 
cation he understood the character of merchant officers 
and service thoroughly, and could expedite the business 
in the minimum time. He was foremost in all sports im- 
provised for our mutual pleasure and health ; the greater 
part of the fun evolved in the steerage was the product of 



THOS. C. CUDDY — W. BREEDLOVE SMITH 315 

his fertile and original brain. Fulham served with marked 
gallantry in the fight, and was conspicuous with Howell in 
looking out for the wounded after the surrender. Since 
the close of the war Fulham has been engaged as mate 
in the English merchant-service. 

THOS. C. CUDDY, 
Gunner. 

This officer received his early education at the Ord- 
nance Department, Washington Navy Yard. On the 
secession of South Carolina he resigned, and returned to 
his native city, Charleston, April 1, 1861. He was ap- 
pointed gunner, Confederate States navy, with orders to 
report to New Orleans for service on the Confederate 
States steamship Sumter. Cuddy made the entire cruise 
in this ship, and when she was laid up at Gibraltar left 
with other officers for England. Upon Semmes's arrival 
at Liverpool he was assigned to the Alabama. Cuddy 
belonged to an old Irish family, the McGillicuddys, and 
possessed the best traits of a thoroughbred Irishman. He 
was a most efficient and energetic officer in his line of duty. 
After the destruction of the Alabama he was for some 
months on leave of absence. He took passage for home 
on the blockade-runner Lelia, and was drowned off the 
mouth of the Mersey River, Jan. 19, 1865. 

W. BREEDLOVE SMITH, 

Captain's Clerk. 

This gentleman shares with O'Brien the exceptional 
record of service on the Sumter, the Alabama, and the 
Shenandoah, and of serving the entire cruise on each of 
them. His social, not less than his business, qualities are 
abundantly manifest in the bare fact. For a captain's 



316 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



clerk, like a private secretary, must necessarily share the 
confidence of his superior, and be able to assist his 
counsels, and must also be happy and tactful in personal 
association. Smith had a peculiar man to deal with in 
Semmes, and probably few could so have understood and 
pleased him. Smith received his credentials immediately 
on the commissioning of the Sumter. After her con- 
demnation he returned to Liverpool, and was promptly 
tendered his former office by Semmes, en the Alabama. 
After his return to England he attracted the attention of 
Waddell, and soon received promotion to the rank of pay- 
master, in which capacity he was assigned to the Shenan- 
doah. He is at present a successful merchant of St. Louis 
and New Orleans, and domiciled at the latter city. It is 
perhaps unnecessary to state that such a man must have 
been popular with his shipmates, and that the qualities 
which so eminently fitted him for success as a " cruiser " 
(a thing which can hardly be said of some of the rest 
of us) would be pretty sure to insure a similar result 
in commercial and social life. 

SIMEON W. CUMMINGS, 
Third Assistant-Engineer. 

Simeon W. Cummings was born in New London, Conn., 
and was, at the commencement of hostilities, a citizen of 
New Orleans, and in the employ of a coast-line steamship 
company. The attention of Commander Semmes was 
called to him while serving as engineer as above ; and he 
was, at Semmes's suggestion, appointed a third assistant- 
engineer in the Confederate States navy, his commission 
dating from May 20, 1861. He reported for duty imme- 
diately, and assisted in the fitting out of the Sumter, ren- 
dering valuable service in this connection, and making the 
entire cruise on her. The Sumter being: condemned at 



JOHN PUNDT 



317 



Gibraltar, Cummmgs took passage on the Spanish steam- 
ship Euphrosyne for London, and suffered with his 
brother officers of the Sumter the perils and hardships of 
shipwreck. Leaving Vigo, Spain, the scene of the dis- 
aster, he took passage for England, was on leave of 
absence some months, and upon the completion of the 
Alabama was ordered to and joined her at the Western 
Islands. Cummings made the cruise on the Alabama up 
to the arrival of the ship at Saldanha Bay, South Africa, 
where he accidentally lost his life. Elsewhere the par- 
ticulars of his sudden death have been related. Cum- 
mings, though of Northern birth, was an enthusiastic and 
faithful follower of the cause he had espoused, and de- 
serves the more credit, in that his determination was 
taken and carried out in spite of the protests of his im- 
mediate family, resulting in his having their sympathy and 
love withdrawn. Cummings was a most capable engineer 
officer, cool and collected in hours of clanger, a true friend, 
generous and broad in his views and, as stated before, at 
most times sad and reflective, yet most satisfactory com- 
pany. He served the flag of his adoption with all the 
ardor of his great soul, and our cause and ship suffered 
a great loss in his sudden taking off. 

JOHN PUNDT, 
Third Assistant-Engineer. 

John Pundt was born at Charleston, S.C., and after 
completing his mechanical education, removed to New 
Orleans. He was appointed third assistant-engineer of 
the Confederate States steamer Sumter from the State 
of Louisiana, his appointment dating May 20, 1861. 
Pundt assisted also in the fitting out of the ship, being a 
first-class practical mechanic. He made the entire cruise 
of the Sumter, leaving her at Gibraltar for London under 



318 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

special orders, and was wrecked with the other detail of 
the Sumter's officers on the Euphrosyne in Vigo Bay, 
Spain. Proceeding from here to London, he was detailed 
lor the Alabama, and was of the party taking passage 
from Liverpool on the British steamer Bahama for Ter- 
ceira. Pundt made the entire cruise of the Alabama, 
participating in the engagement with the United States 
steamer Hatteras off Galveston, Texas, and with the Uni- 
ted States steamer Kearsarge off Cherbourg, France, and 
rendered valuable service in both engagements. Pundt 
was made prisoner by the Kearsarge after the fight, being 
picked up out of the water by one of her boats, but was 
eventually released on parole, and avoided the horrors of 
prison life. Pundt was an unusually cool officer under fire. 
He returned to the merchant service after the close of 
the war, and engaged in the coast-trade in the line of his 
profession, dying a few years since at his post. South 
Carolina had a gallant and efficient officer in Pundt, and 
may be proud to keep his memory green. 

WILLIAM H. SINCLAIR, 

Midshipman. 

This young gentleman was an offspring of the old 
navy, being a grandson of Commodore Arthur Sinclair, 
and a son of Commander George T. Sinclair. The latter 
had the superintendence of the building of the Confed- 
erate States cruiser Texas, on the Clyde, Scotland, 
which vessel was sold to the Spanish government, and, 
under the name of the Pampero, captured the blockade- 
runner Virginius during the Cuban rebellion. It will be 
remembered that Capt. Jos. Fry, commander of the Vir- 
ginius, and his officers and crew, were shot without trial. 
Midshipman Sinclair entered the Confederate States navy 
Aug. 1 8, 1 86 1, making his first cruise in the Nashville to 



F. M. ANDERSON 3^ 

Southampton and return, running the blockade into Beau- 
fort, S.C. In June, 1862, he was ordered to the Ala- 
bama, and again ran the blockade from Charleston to 
Nassau, arriving at Liverpool with other officers on the 
Bahama. Midshipman Sinclair was called by Semmes his 
" handsome middy." He was selected as assistant to the 
lieutenant who boarded the mail steamer Ariel off the east 
end of Cuba. In the absence of Capt. Jones, detained on 
board the Alabama as a prisoner, Mr. Sinclair assumed the 
honors of the dinner-table with remarkable success, and 
entirely won the confidence, if not the hearts, of the lady 
passengers. His return to the Alabama minus his coat- 
buttons has been elsewhere noted, and is the one instance 
on record where the absence of coat-buttons seems to 
have been made to testify to an officer's success and good 
conduct. When the bark Conrad was made a prize, and 
fitted out as the Confederate cruiser Tuscaloosa, Sinclair 
was detached to her as acting lieutenant. Her cruise 
and subsequent fate have already been chronicled. His 
disappointment was keen at his inability to join us in the 
fight off Cherbourg. He remained in Europe some time, 
pending the construction of cruisers at English ports, and 
on the cessation of hostilities he returned to his native 
State. Subsequently he removed to Halifax, N.S., where 
he died. That he was a young officer of great promise 
will be understood from his selection by Semmes as execu- 
tive officer of the Tuscaloosa. He had all the instincts 
and aptitudes which might be expected from his lineage. 
He was an excellent sailor and a brave fighter. 

E. M. ANDERSON, 

Midshipman. 

Entering the Confederate States navy Nov. 18, 1861, 
as midshipman, appointed from his native State, Georgia, 



3-0 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Anderson's first service was on board the gunboat Savan- 
nah, of the squadron under Commodore Tatnall, stationed 
in the Savannah River. In February, 1862, ordered abroad, 
running the blockade from Wilmington. On reaching Liv- 
erpool, he was detailed for the Alabama, then being con- 
structed at Birkenhead. In August, 1862, took passage for 
the Azores in the Confederate States steamer Bahama, join- 
ing the Alabama, and assisting in the work of completing 
her as a man-of-war. Made the entire cruise in this vessel, 
was wounded in the fight with the Kearsarge, but managed 
to keep afloat some considerable time in the water. Was 
rescued by a boat from the Deerhound, and, with the rest 
of the officers saved by this vessel, was taken to South- 
ampton. Was on waiting orders from July to October, 
1864, when he was ordered to the Confederacy. En route 
at Bermuda, he met the government blockade-runner Owl, 
commanded by Capt. John N. Maffitt, formerly commander 
of the Confederate States steamer Florida, and was by 
him retained as navigating officer, with the rank of acting 
master, and remained on her until the close of the war. 
We may here add that Anderson was promoted to the 
grade of lieutenant just before the closing of the war. 
Anderson commanded the thirty-two-pounder gun of 
Lieut, Wilson's division, and did most effective work 
with it during the first part of the Kearsarge fight. Later 
on, when the after pivot-gun was depleted of nearly every 
man on its port side, Anderson was ordered to secure his 
gun, and take his crew to the pivot, where he did service 
for the remainder of the action under the personal super- 
vision of his lieutenant. 

Anderson descends from one of the oldest and most 
distinguished families of Georgia. His father was at one 
time mayor of Savannah, and a gentleman of sterling 
worth. The fact of this young gentleman's promotion 
from acting midshipman through all intermediate grades 



E. A. MAFFITT. 32 I 

to that of lieutenant, in the short period of two years, attests 
his high qualifications. He was a most efficient officer, 
rapidly mastering his profession in all its branches, and 
having the full confidence of his commander, and respect 
and admiration of his brother officers. Since the close of 
hostilities he has resided at Savannah. The writer had 
the pleasure of meeting him some years since, and review- 
ing the memories of our adventures of 1 862-1 864. 

E. A. MAFFITT, 
Midsh ip man. 

Appointed an acting midshipman in the Confederate 
States navy from the State of Georgia, Nov. 15, 1861. 
Was ordered to the gunboat Savannah, of the fleet of 
Commodore Taltnall, stationed on the coast of Georgia, 
serving with distinction in this fleet until ordered abroad. 
In August, 1862, ran the blockade from Wilmington, N.C., 
on the steamer Annie Childs, under orders to report for 
duty on the Alabama ; and with Semmes and other officers 
reached the Western Islands via Liverpool, assisting in 
the fitting out of the cruiser, and made the entire cruise 
on her. Was one of the lucky ones rescued by the Deer- 
hound after the Channel fight ; taken to Southampton, 
England, and was in waiting orders for some months. Oc- 
tober, 1864, was ordered home. On reaching Bermuda, 
found the Owl, government blockade-runner, in port, and 
was ordered by Commander Maffitt (his father) back to 
Liverpool for duty on one of the cruisers under construc- 
tion in England. Maffitt was, while with us, midship- 
man of the first division, under command of Lieut. Arm- 
strong, consisting of a hundred-pounder rifle-gun and two 
thirty-twos. He had charge of the latter guns in the en- 
gagement between the Alabama and Kearsarge, earning 
well-merited promotion for his steady gallantry. Unlike 



322 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

his father in disposition, young Maffitt was of the unruffled 
order, calm as a summer day, of few words, but at all 
times thoroughly efficient. The commander was noted 
for dash and almost reckless impetuosity. Witness his 
plunge into Mobile through a heavy fleet of the enemy 
blockading the port ; his vessel, the Florida, having at the 
time but a handful of men on duty, the rest either dead 
or disabled by yellow-fever, and Maffitt himself piloting 
his vessel through the fleet lying upon a mattress on the 
top-gallant forecastle ill with fever ! Of such stock was 
our young middy. At the close of hostilities Maffitt made 
Wilmington, N. C, his home. He died some few years 
since, surrounded by wife and little ones. If no other 
comfort remains to his loving helpmate, she can gather her 
little ones around her, and tell them they inherit the blood 
of heroes. 

HENRY ALCOTT, 
Sailmaker. 

Henry Alcott is another of our adopted shipmates, an 
Englishman by birth, and z. proteg^ oi Bulloch, joining the 
Alabama at Terceira, receiving a warrant from Semmes 
as sailmaker, and making the entire cruise in our ship. 
Alcott was of the sturdy type of our sympathetic English 
co-workers. He was like Pat's parrot, slow of speech, but 
profound of thought, and hard to convince that canvas 
was not the most important part of the Alabama. Alcott 
did good service in the shot-and-shell division in the action, 
and was among the rescued by the Deerhound. His next 
service was as sailmaker of the Shenandoah, making the 
entire cruise in her, and losing his warrant as sailmaker in 
the Confederate States navy only by the result of the 
war. 



GEO. ADDISON — J AS. BROSMAN — WM. ROBINSON ^Z 

GEORGE ADDISON, 
Carpenter 1 s-Mate. 

George Addison, carpenter's-mate, should be honor- 
ably mentioned. He was cool and collected ; and though 
helpless to stop the huge rents made in our sides by the 
formidable eleven-inch guns of the Kearsarge, he was on 
hand to assist and obey his superior, carpenter Robinson. 
Addison had the honor of being the only man wounded on 
our ship in the Hatteras fight, a small fragment of shell 
passing through his cheek. In the first fight Addison did 
most efficient service, the smaller shot-holes of the light 
battery of the Hatteras being easily plugged. 



JAMES BROSMAN, 

Boatswain 's-Mate. 

James Brosman, boatswain's-mate, was one of the 
original crew of the Alabama, making the entire cruise, 
and was captain of the after pivot-gun, under command of 
Lieut. Wilson. He was a splendid specimen of an English 
man-of-war's man. A thorough sailor, and could pipe as 
sweet a " call " as a sailor would care to move by. He 
served in both engagements, and was paid off and honor- 
ably discharged at Southampton after the fight. He 
afterwards served on the Shenandoah with a boatswain's 
warrant. 

WILLIAM ROBINSON, 

Carpenter. 

Carpenter Robinson was born at Boston, Mass., re- 
moved to New Orleans, making it his home, and at the 
breaking out of the Civil War was engaged in a private 
shipyard in the line of his trade. His ability was brought 
to the notice of Commander Semmes, who engaged his 



324 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

services to help fit his vessel for sea. The Habana had 
to be altered, indeed, half reconstructed, being a simple 
passenger and freight boat plying between New Orleans 
and Havana ; and before she could be metamorphosed into 
man-of-war Sumter, much intelligent skill and labor were re- 
quired. The subject of this sketch was fully equal to the 
task. Upon the completion of the alterations, and the 
Sumter being ready for her armament and stores, Robin- 
son was, at the suggestion of Commander Semmes, war- 
ranted as a carpenter in the Confederate States navy from 
the State of Louisiana, his warrant dating May 20, 1 861. 
He made the entire cruise of the Sumter, and under orders 
was one of the party taking passage from Gibraltar for 
London in the ill-fated steamer Euphrosyne. Awaiting 
orders for some time in England, upon the arrival of Com- 
mander Semmes he was detailed for the Alabama, and 
joined her per Steamer Bahama from Liverpool at the 
Western Islands. Assisted again at this point in fitting 
the Alabama's battery, etc., his ability coming into play. 
Robinson made the entire cruise on this vessel, was most 
distinguished in both fights, and lost his life by drowning 
after the sinking of the Alabama. The writer, standing in 
the starboard pivot-gun port, saw the last of poor Robin- 
son. He left the sinking ship among the last. His duties 
calling him to the point where shot-holes were to be plugged, 
made his task exceedingly arduous and active ; and the pre- 
sumption is he lost his life more from prior exhaustion 
than want of skill in the water. He was an active swimmer, 
a man of strong nerve and fertility of resource. 

The last seen of the carpenter, William Robinson, by 
the writer was while standing near the port gangway with 
Evans. It was soon after the order issued : " All hands save 
yourselves ! " Robinson was at this time on the port rail, 
nearly stripped, and apparently about to leave our ship 
from that side. The rest had gone from the starboard side 



BENJAMIN P. MECASKEY 325 

nearest the two vessels. He must have left the ship be- 
fore O'Brien and self. He was a good swimmer, and should 
have been saved. There was no observance of sharks 
about the vessel at the time or afterwards. How Robin- 
son lost his life is wrapped in doubt. No one saw him in 
the water after the fight ; all we realized was, he never 
answered to the last muster-roll. He was popular with 
his mess-mates, jolly, and full of fun. " Rest thee ! " 

BENJAMIN P. MECASKEY, 

Boatswain. 

The subject of our sketch was born in Philadelphia, 
Penn., and during his earlier days served in the navy of 
the United States, as boatswain's-mate. The advent of 
the war found Mecaskey at New Orleans, where he 
attracted the attention of Commander Semmes, and assisted 
in the rigging out of the Sumter after her conversion into 
a man-of-war. He made the cruise of this vessel, and was 
also of the party making the voyage from Gibraltar to 
Liverpool, and was among the rest a temporary castaway 
at Vigo Bay, Spain. Mecaskey, I should have stated above, 
was warranted a boatswain in the Confederate States navy 
from the State of Louisiana, his warrant dating from May 
20, 1 86 1. Being on waiting orders at the time of the 
return of Semmes from Nassau to Liverpool, Mecaskey 
was ordered to the Confederate States steamship Alabama, 
and with his brother officers joined her at Terceira. He 
was as useful an officer as we had on board, fitting the gun- 
tackle, etc., and otherwise making the ship a man-of-war. 
He made the entire cruise, and after the fight was captured 
by the Kearsarge, and served the remainder of the war a 
prisoner, first on the enemy's ship, and later at Fort Warren. 
Mecaskey, as was the case with Freeman, did not seem to 
know how to go about it for his parole. Simply stood on 



326 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

his dignity, and took the consequences accordingly. He 
was a typical sailor ; looked it all over. They have passed 
away, this type ; but thirty years or more ago you could 
have picked out on board any American man-of-war his 
counterpart. Born, as the navy saying goes, " with web feet 
and barnacles on his back." Possessed of a strong and 
musical voice, his " call " could be heard from deck to main- 
royal truck ; and his word of command passed to the crew 
was electrifying. A man of fearless make-up ; and in all 
times of peril a picture of steadiness, standing like old 
Palinurus, stern as fate. The writer has lost sight of the 
old boatswain. Whether he has tripped his anchor for the 
unknown country this deserved tribute to his worth may 
discover. 

GEORGE FREEMANTLE, 
Seaman. 

Another conspicuous seaman of our ship, and one first 
brought to the attention of our appreciative Commander 
by Capt. Jas. D. Bulloch, the gentleman already referred to 
frequently in these pages. Freemantle had made the pas- 
sage in the blockade-runner Fingal with Bulloch and Lieut. 
Low, the latter afterwards one of our lieutenants, and sub- 
sequently commander of the Tuscaloosa, our tender. Both 
these officers had a high appreciation of Freemantle. We 
have frequently referred to him before ; and after recording 
that he filled the important trust of coxswain of the cap- 
tain's gig, and captain of the maintop, you need not be 
told that he was a thorough sailor-man, as well as a trusty 
subordinate. I am not sure, but think he must have gotten 
into the "breakers" through no fault of his own, judging 
from his past stable characteristics. It is the only defence 
I shall offer, viz., "past good character ;" and let him now 
tell the story and explain, then judge for yourself, even 
you, lady readers. We now find our hero after the sinking 



ROBERT WRIGHT 



3-7 



of the Alabama, rescued by a French fishing-smack, and 
carried to Cherbourg. From this time, for some months, 
the writer lost sight of him ; when one day, being at my 
hotel in London, a servant announced a sailor below 
anxious to see me. Imagine my surprise and joy to have 
Freemantle stand before me in " shore-togs " and looking 
so well. A hearty grasp of the hand, and then to the 
primary object of the visit. It seems he was now on his 
way to Liverpool, to ship for the East Indies, and wanted 
from me some funds to reach his destination. After 
supplying the needful, I remarked : " Now, Freemantle, 
tell me all about yourself since we jumped overboard from 
the Alabama in the English Channel." "Well, you see, 
Mr. Sinclair, I was paid off with a lot of dollars, married a 
little craft at Cherbourg, and rented a cottage ; furnished 
it cosily, and tried to settle down ; but bless your soul, sir, 
matters got tame. She couldn't parle vous English, and I 
couldn't parle vous Franqais ; so I 'sheered off,' leaving 
her the traps ; and I'm off to sea." So like a sailor ! I 
have never seen the fine fellow since, and am not likely to 
after all these years ; nor do I imagine he has mastered 
French and returned to his "little craft." Freemantle was 
one of the men in charge of the captain's papers, and upon 
his being landed at Cherbourg by a fishing-smack, sought 
out Commander Geo. T. Sinclair of the Confederate States 
navy, and handed him the papers for transmission to 
Semmes. It need scarcely be added they were safely de- 
livered. 

ROBERT WRIGHT, 
Seaman. 

A reliable and valuable seaman was Robert Wright, 
who joined our ship at Terceira, making the entire cruise, 
escaping the snares and blandishments of his tempters 
while on liberty. Wright was a cool man in all emergen- 



228 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

cies, an accomplished sailor, and remarkably courteous to 
superiors. It was the pleasure of the writer to have him 
as captain of one of the guns of his division. He was 
badly wounded in the latter part of the fight, but escaped 
capture by sheer good fortune, managing to keep afloat on 
a fragment of our wreck, and was picked up by a fishing- 
smack and carried to Cherbourg. After leaving the French 
hospital, he was paid off and honorably discharged. Wright 
was the only man seriously hurt at either of the writer's 
guns. 



OFF THE COAST OF BRAZIL 329 



SCENE OFF BRAZIL COAST, MAKING SHIP SNUG 
FOR A NIGHT HUNT 

The evening is on us ; the cruiser to be stripped for her 
night hunt, — placed under low canvas, single-reefed topsails. 
The " first luff " takes the deck. " All hands reef topsails," 
echoes along the spar-deck to the " pipe " of boatswain and 
mates. " Stand by the topsail halyards ; " " round in the 
weather topsail-braces ; " " settle away the topsail halyards ; " 
" haul out the reef-tackles ; " " haul up the buntlines ; " " stand 
by to lay aloft." In a flash the lower rigging is a mass of 
topmen, bunched just above the rail, and, with a grasp of the 
lower rigging, eyes and faculties intent, they anxiously await 
the next order, not a motion among them. The order rings 
out from the trumpet, " Aloft, topmen ; " and springing up 
the lofty lower rigging like a troop of squirrels, two ratlines 
a jump, and over the futtock-shrouds, they pause at the 
" slings " of the topsail-yards. " Man the boom tricing-lines ; " 
" trice up ; " " lay out ; " " take one snug reef." Out they 
scramble on the foot-ropes, each striving for the weather-earing, 
the post of honor, next the captain of the top. As the latter 
throws his leg over the yard-arm, as the trooper over his 
saddle, " Light over to windward," comes the cry from him ; 
and in a twinkle he has caught a turn or two of the weather- 
earing. " Haul out to leeward," again from the captain of the 
top ; the reef-points are secured, the manoeuvre accomplished. 
The finished work aloft has been noted by the deck officers. 
From the trumpet comes, " Lay in ; " " down booms ; " " lay 
down from aloft; " and helter-skelter. Some by the back-stays, 
others by the lower rigging, the deck is reached in a jiffy. 
Again the trumpet order, " Man the topsail halyards ; " " tend 
the weather topsail-braces ; " " overhaul the reef-tackles and 
buntlines ; " " hoist away the topsails." The weather braces 
are hauled taut, and the boat snug. " All hands splice the 



330 MAKING SHIP SNUG FOR A NIGHT HUNT 

main-brace," to the musical pipe of Mecaskey and mates. 
Now observe the bright, laughing eye and jaunty step of our 
gallants as they file around the grog-tub. The "first luff" 
hands the trumpet to the deck officer ; the captain gives his 
order to the latter, " Keep her 'full and by' sir," and returns 
to his cabin. The officer of the deck conveys the course 
to the quartermaster at the " con," mounts the horse-block, 
glasses and trumpet in hand. The watch coil up under the 
weather bulwarks to dream of home or Molly, the lookouts to 
speculate on sails and prize-money. And now 

" All the air a solemn stillness holds,' 

save the slight splash of the sea in the propeller-well. The 
trap is set for the game. 



A SOUVENIR OF THE ALABAMA 331 



A SOUVENIR OF THE ALABAMA 

The following communication from the author to his mother 
is a fac-simile of one of the few letters reaching its destination 
through the blockade. Its itinerary was to England per British 
mail, thence to the Confederacy, " through the kindness of any 
blockade-runner," — an uncertain and irresponsible mail-system. 
But two letters from the author reached destination during the 
cruise. No postage could be prepaid on it beyond England. 
From this time forward it was a tramp. 

Simon's Bay, Aug. iGth, 1863. 
(Near Cape Town.) 

My Darling Mother, — 

We arrived here a few days since from the coast of Brazil 
via Saldanha Bay and Cape Town. At the former place I was 
called upon to witness the first and only accident that has hap- 
pened to any of us. I was in charge of one of our boats with 
Mr. Bulloch, our master, and Mr. Cummings, one of our engi- 
neers. We were hunting wild fowl, and under sail at the time. 
Mr. C.'s gun went off, and the entire charge of duck-shot en- 
tered his breast. He sprang up in the boat, and his only ex- 
clamation was, " Oh, me ! " and expired immediately. You can 
imagine our horror and grief at seeing a companion endeared 
to us all by mutual cares and privations, thus taken from us in 
a moment, without even time to send a message of love to the 
dear one at home. His funeral was the saddest sight I ever 
witnessed. Here in this lonely and desolate spot we were 
forced to leave all that was earthly of one of the noblest fel- 
lows that ever lived. He was the entire cruise of the " Sum- 
ter " with Capt. Semmes, and it seemed so hard that he should 
not return home with us to share our honors (if it is God's 
will that we shall). We have fitted out a vessel (one of our 
captures) under the command of Acting Master Low, and Willie 



33? 



A SOUVENIR OF THE ALABAMA 



is her First Lieutenant. She carries two guns (also captured), 
and since we fitted her, which is about two months since, has 
captured a Yankee valued at $150,000. She has just come in 
and joined us again. I was delighted to see once more her First 
Luff. Think of Willie's luck ; $1,200 per annum, and executive 
officer of a " Pirate." I have been promoted to Lieutenant, and 
bear my position with becoming dignity. Bye-the-bye, I must 
mention her name, the sloop-of-war " Tuscaloosa." We have 
just captured (coming from Cape Town here) another vessel 
with two guns, and shall transfer them to Low's vessel. The 
interest expressed by the world in the " Alabama " is beyond 
anything. We have sometimes thought we could get an idea 
of it from the newspapers, but they give but a faint one. When 
we were telegraphed as approaching Cape Town, men, women, 
and children left business and pleasure, and rushed to the 
beach to get a view of the far-famed " Pirate." They not only 
saw her, but saw her at her work ; for as we neared the land, a 
vessel also standing in showed Yankee colors, and in a moment 
we were on her, as a hawk on a chicken. The capture in 
sight of the city added to the excitement, and the most un- 
likely reports found circulation as — that the "Alabama was 
engaged with one of the enemy's cruisers," the " ' A ' was sink- 
ing a merchant vessel at the time because she would not show 
her colors," etc., etc. We had scarcely anchored before the 
decks were crowded with both sexes, and all conditions from 
boatmen to lords ; and question after question was put faster 
than we could answer them. A few moments after our ar- 
rival the mail-steamer from England arrived, and passing un- 
der our stern, manned the rigging, and gave three cheers for the 
" gallant Alabama," which we returned. Her captain came on 
board, and invited us to a breakfast the next morning, to which 
all who could be spared from duty went. This steamer brought 
us news to the 6th of June. We shall have another in from Eng- 
land in a few days with news to the 6th of August from America. 
When is this war to end ? I sometimes think never. What a 
loss we have met with in the death of Jackson ! but we have 
given them glorious whippings at Fredericksburg and Vicks- 
burg, and have a great deal to be thankful to God for. Unless 
England or France interferes (and there are no indications that 



A SOUVENIR OF THE ALABAMA 333 

they will at present) this war must last a great many years, I 
think. Perhaps you wish to know something of Willie and my- 
self. I can only say we are enjoying magnificent health, the 
ocean agreeing with us both. 

The captain of one of the vessels just captured by us was 
taken on his last trip (a few months since) by the " Florida," and 
he tells me that Terry was well and hearty. We sighted the 
" Florida " on the coast of Brazil, but did not run down to her, 
as at the time we were uncertain it was she, and our policy is 
to avoid (if honorable) a fight. She went into Pernambuco and 
we into Bahia; and we got from the "B" papers a long account 
of her, and she of us. We have quite a fleet of Confederates 
down here at present. The " Florida " was spoken a few days 
since, the " Georgia," the " Lapwing," fitted out by Maffitt 
(Terry is not in her but still on the " F. "), the " Tuscaloosa " 
now with us, making five in all here, and in the North Atlantic 
several, including an " iron-clad " of 21 guns, under Capt. B. 
You cannot imagine how we appreciate the kindness of all 
abroad to us (exiles as we are), particularly the French and 
English. Their affection for the South is about equal to their 
contempt and hate of^the Yankees. If a Yankee man-of-war 
comes in they drive her off in 24 hours; and if they complain 
that they are in want of repairs, they order a board of their 
own (English) officers, and they always decide that the repairs 
are not necessary ; but in our case they only say, " We are glad 
to see you, old fellows, make yourselves at home, and anything 
you want let us know." The English and French admirals 
come on board and make official calls in full uniform. And 
the admiral here has gone so far as to say that had we saluted 
him he would have returned it, which you know would have 
amounted to a recognition of the C. S. I enclose a view of 
the " Alabama " taken on board by an artist. It is not a good 
picture, but truthful. In it you will notice your humble servant 
in the act of furling sails, and the prominent gun in sight is 
one of the guns of my division, and the one I fought in the 
engagement with the " Hatteras." You can form some idea 
of her great length from the picture. We are soon to have an 
addition to our armament, and shall then be a very formidable 
vessel, able to cope with anything we shall meet. 



334 A SOUVENIR OF THE ALABAMA 

Another Confederate cruiser, a brig-rigged steamer, is tele- 
graphed to-day as standing into Table Bay. I think after a 
while " John Bull " will give us a large navy. Yesterday 
one of our boats with a crew in her got adrift from our 
stern, and, owing to a strong gale blowing at the time, was 
unable to reach us again, and went on shore to leeward. 
The admiral, who lives on shore, sent for them, and had break- 
fast prepared in his dining-room for them, and entertained 
them the whole morning. They drank his health so often that 
they were in a fine state by the time they reached us again, 
which was late in the afternoon. They were put in irons for 
it. I could not help quoting the old Latin proverb, " Tem- 
pora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis," first breakfasting with 
an admiral, and then in double irons in the " brig." 

You will receive by the same mail a full account of our 
adventures since leaving England. It is taken from the pri- 
vate journal of our officers, and put together by an editor of 
this place. If you receive it be sure and preserve it, as I shall 
not be here when it comes out, but have left an order for a 
copy to be mailed to your address. 

The " Tuscaloosa " sailed this morning on a cruise. Willie 
is well, but now has to work hard as First Luff. 



LIST OF OFFICERS OF THE ALABAMA 



335 



LIST OF OFFICERS 

OF THE 

CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER ALABAMA. 

AS THEY SIGNED THEMSELVES. 



Raphael Semmes, 

Commander. 

John McIntosh Kell, 

First Lieutenant and Executive Officer. 

Richard F. Armstrong, 

Second Lieutenant. 

Joseph D. Wilson, 

Third Lieutenant. 

John Low, 

Fourth Lieutenant. 

Arthur Sinclair, 

Fifth Lieutenant. 

Francis L. Galt, 

Surgeon and Acting Paymaster. 

Miles J. Freeman, 

Chief-Engineer. 

Wm. P. Brooks, 

Assistant-Engineer. 

Mathew O'Brien, 

Assistant-Engineer. 

Simeon W. Cummings, 

Assistant-Engineer. 

John M. Pundt, 

Assistant-Engineer. 

Wm. Robertson, 

Assistant-Engineer. 

Becket K. Howell, 

Lieutenant Marines. 



Irvine S. Bulloch, 

Sailing-Master. 

D. Herbert Llewellyn, 

Assistant-Surgeon. 

Wm. H. Sinclair, 

Midshipman. 

E. Anderson Maffitt, 

Midshipman. 

E. Maffitt Anderson, 

Midshipman. 

Benjamin P. Mecaskey, 

Boatswain. 

Henry Alcott, 

Sailmaker. 

Thomas C. Cuddy, 

Gunner. 

Wm. Robinson, 

Carpenter. 

Jas. Evans, 

Master's-Mate. 

Geo. T. Fulham, 

Master's-Mate. 

Julius Schroeder, 

Master's-Mate. 

Baron Max. Von Meulnier, 

Master's-Mate. 

W. Breedlove Smith, 

Captain's Secretary. 



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